State Department of Health says some rural parishes are misusing virus data

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The Louisiana Department of Health is accusing some rural parish officials of misusing lists of patients who tested positive for the coronavirus, violating privacy laws and misinterpreting the data to claim the virus outbreak is less severe than it is.

The department sent an email to all parish emergency leaders Thursday saying if they want to keep receiving the reports, they must sign a new agreement limiting how they can use the data.

The health department sends lists of patients who tested positive for the coronavirus to local emergency officials to help first responders know when to prepare for interacting with someone infected.