ORLANDO, Fla. — As the number of Floridians testing positive for coronavirus continues to climb, you may be wondering if you have come in contact with any of those people while you’re out in the community visiting essential businesses.
Channel 9 investigative reporter Karla Ray learned, in many cases, you may never know. That’s because even if a person works at an essential business where you may have shopped, the state doesn’t notify the public.
When other diseases, like hepatitis A, spread through communities, the Florida Department of Health sends out alerts about where employees worked and when, to help notify the public of possible exposure. But if someone at your grocery store or pharmacy tests positive for COVID-19, you may never find out.
When an Amazon employee at the Boggy Creek Road warehouse tested positive, officials told Channel 9 that everyone inside the building was notified, and close contacts of the person were asked to self-quarantine for two weeks. That doesn’t mean anyone will know where the person last shopped for groceries, picked up a prescription or purchased gas.
“It’s not enough. I think it’s so important right now in this crisis for transparency, not only to rebuild trust with government, but it also provides security with people to feel like they’re going to be healthy when they go to the store or go to work,” State Rep. Anna Eskamani, of Orlando, said.
Eskamani said her office has been contacted by concerned essential workers all over the Orlando area, about the current notification process. The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention and Florida Department of Health work together to determine who is most high-risk based on exposure, but will not identify places of work or recent visits.
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“If we limit it only to contract tracing, and not an entire environment where someone would’ve engaged with others unknowingly, we really are putting the public at risk,” Eskamani said.
The Florida Department of Health told 9 Investigates: “It is the decision of an individual to notify the public,” and that they must balance the privacy of individuals and confidentiality of investigations.
Eskamani said if more information is available to the public about how the virus is spreading, the more likely people would comply with the stay-at-home order.
READ: Coronavirus in Central Florida: Here is how to stay informed
“We’ve seen DOH respond to the pressure in making data more accessible and more public friendly and I think that needs to continue to be the path,” Eskamani said.
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