Oklahoma can release coronavirus information to first responders, attorney general says

State health officials can release to first responders the names and addresses of people who test positive of COVID-19 or are suspected of having the virus, Oklahoma's attorney general wrote Thursday.

The Oklahoma State Department of Health is allowed to release some personal health information to protect the health and safety of law enforcement officials, Attorney General Mike Hunter wrote in a letter to state health officials.

The release of such information does not violate state or federal medical privacy laws, Hunter wrote to Interim Health Commissioner Lance Frye and Secretary of Health Jerome Loughridge.

Gov. Kevin Stitt previously asked the Legislature to grant him emergency powers, in part, so the State Department of Health could skirt medical privacy laws to provide some personal health information to law enforcement and other first responders. The information is intended to inform first responders if they are about to come into contact with someone who may have COVID-19, which would give them a chance to put on personal protective equipment.

The Legislature twice approved granting the governor catastrophic emergency powers, but those powers expired over the weekend — leading attorneys at the State Department of Health to believe the agency could no longer release such information.

A spokeswoman for the State Department of Health said the agency will resume releasing to first responders the addresses of those who have tested positive for COVID-19. The information is released daily to law enforcement entities and medical first responders, said spokeswoman Donelle Harder.

The agency only releases the name of suspected or confirmed COVID-19 patients if a first responder requests more information, Harder said. Sometimes the addresses provided are too broad and a first responder might want more information if say, they are responding to an apartment building with multiple tenants, she said.

"We’re not just giving out names to all law enforcement when, in most instances, the critical need is purely the address," she said. Some states have been questioned for sharing personal COVID-19 with law enforcement.

In his letter, Hunter also detailed his legal rationale to support the agency's public release of non-identifying of COVID-19 data.