McHenry County Judge Michael Chmiel reportedly entered a temporary restraining order forcing the hand of the McHenry County Health Department (MCHD) to disclose to police the names of all patients "actively infected" with the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19).
MCHD had previously refused to inform local law enforcement about the identities of these folks due to privacy laws. But because the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) seems to be steamrolling all other rights and liberties that Americans are afforded by the Constitution, why not breach patient privacy by ratting out the infected to the cops too?
The Chicago Tribune reported that MCHD refused to reveal the names of infected patients because of conditions outlined in the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, for instance, which prohibits this type of privacy breach.
"While we are compelled to provide the information," responded MCHD to the ruling, it remains the "professional health opinion" of the agency that having to reveal the identities of Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) patients to police is excessive.
"In MCDH’s professional public health opinion, given what we know about how this disease spreads, the general lack of testing, epidemiological data and the stay-at-home order, providing the personal names of cases exceeds the minimum information needed to protect law enforcement," the agency further indicated in a statement.
"Five law enforcement agencies disagreed and filed suit, demanding the names of patients having tested positive. Friday evening, the court issued a temporary order to release the names. While we are compelled to provide this information, MCDH has requested the tightest control of this private medical information, whereby it will be provided only to the Emergency Telephone System Board (ETSB-911) for dissemination on a call-by-call basis."
Be sure to listen below to The Health Ranger Report as Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, warns that this type of egregious tyranny is far more dangerous to Americans than the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) – or any other virus, for that matter:
McHenry County State Attorney's Office sides with sheriff over MCDH
In weighing in on the matter, the McHenry County State Attorney's Office sided not with MCDH, which wants to protect patient privacy, but rather with the local sheriff.
This reportedly left MCDH feeling "abandoned," especially since it now stands at odds with law enforcement which has the backing of the local state attorney. This is significant because the State Attorney Patrick Kenneally had previously represented MCDH, but no longer can due to this conflict of interest.
"When there's a conflict where the state's attorney's office can no longer represent both sides, then the state's attorney picks the side that it thinks is right," Kenneally reportedly stated.
According to reports, the information that MCDH is having to provide to local law enforcement is "limited," and is only being given on a case-by-case basis when a dispatcher is sent to respond to an incident that could potentially involve an infected patient.
The stated purpose of this privacy breach is to protect law enforcement from potentially becoming infected with the virus themselves. However, we've seen in other parts of the country that officers are failing to abide by social distancing decrees and failing to wear face masks and gloves, and yet insisting upon getting up close and personal with violators of these new rules.
To keep up with the latest news about the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19), be sure to check out Pandemic.news.
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