Coronavirus (Image provided by U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

The Essex County Health Department is now required to release more hyper-local information on the novel coronavirus outbreak.

After weeks of public health officials declining to share town-level statistics related to the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19, the Essex County Board of Supervisors on Monday ordered the county Health Department to release that data — not only to lawmakers but to the general public.

“Every town should know how many active cases are in any given community,” said Wilmington town Supervisor Roy Holzer. “I think every time we release that information, it brings a new awareness to the virus itself.”

Holzer said people will take more precautions if they know where the virus has spread than if they operate under the assumption that everyone has it.

Shortly after the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Essex County last month, Public Health Director Linda Beers said at a press conference in Elizabethtown that specific information would be withheld because of medical privacy laws, and because in this rural area, specifics could be identifying.

But while sharing information such as a person’s age, gender and marital status could violate federal patient privacy laws, releasing the number of confirmed cases in each town would not, according to Essex County Attorney Dan Manning.

“The more bits of information we put out, it would be easier to identify,” Board of Supervisors Chairman Shaun Gillilland of Willsboro said during the board’s regular meeting on Monday. “The only thing we need to hear from Public Health is how many positives in such-and-such town.”

As of Monday afternoon, there were nine test-confirmed and five suspected positive cases of COVID-19 in Essex County, according to its Health Department. That represents no change from Sunday.

Three people who tested positive for COVID-19 have recovered, also no change from Sunday. Altogether, 113 tests have been processed, four more than Sunday. Nine people are in isolation quarantine. Twenty-two people are in mandatory quarantine, down from 23 on Sunday. Nine people are in precautionary quarantine, down from 10 on Sunday.

In Franklin County, there were nine test-confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Monday, no change from Sunday. There were also 22 suspected cases, up from 14 on Sunday, according to Franklin County Public Health. There are now 130 people in isolation or in quarantine, up from 97 on Sunday. Altogether, 153 tests have been processed and returned negative, up from 146 on Sunday.

There have been no reported COVID-19 deaths in Essex or Franklin counties as of Monday, according to the state Department of Health.

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Franklin County

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Franklin County Public Health announced on Monday that it will now report both suspected and test-confirmed cases of COVID-19.

In the past, the department only released data on cases of COVID-19 that had been confirmed by tests, but testing has been in short supply. For more than two weeks, the county’s two hospitals — Alice Hyde Medical Center in Malone and Adirondack Medical Center in Saranac Lake — have restricted testing to inpatients and health care workers in an effort to conserve supplies amid a nationwide shortage.

Many patients who have symptoms of COVID-19 but aren’t in severe enough condition to be hospitalized have been told by doctors to self-isolate at home. Health care providers are encouraged, but not required, to report to county health departments the number of patients whom they have told to self-quarantine.

Public health officials have said this area is now facing “community spread” — meaning there are now confirmed cases where the source of a person’s exposure to the virus is unclear. But with limited testing, it has been difficult to gauge how many people in North Country communities actually have COVID-19, or even how many were told by doctors that they probably do.

“From this date forward, the confirmed cases will include the number of positive cases, and an additional number of cases that are ‘suspect,'” Franklin County Public Health said in a news release Monday. “Suspect cases will include those individuals that have had a confirmed primary contact with a known positive individual or an individual that is exhibiting the signs and symptoms of COVID-19. This new reporting system should more accurately reflect the number of infected individuals and how the virus is progressing.”

In light of the testing restrictions, Essex County’s health department has also changed how it itemizes COVID-19 data it releases to the public. Last week, the department added statistics for “suspect” cases as well as test-confirmed cases. The department also changed how it issues quarantine and isolation orders, expanding contact tracing and isolation orders to people suspected of having COVID-19.