We have been told by the Evers’ administration that they will be releasing the names of more than 1000 businesses that have had 2 or more COVID-19 outbreaks since June. This is in response to an open records request from individuals and the media. Back in July, DHS had said they were going to release this information and publish it to their website. WGA and several other trade groups were able to stop them from publishing the information to their website, however, months later, after consultation with the state’s legal experts, they believe this information needs to be released publicly to the media in response to the open records request. Oddly enough, Governor Evers told the Milwaukee Press Club two weeks ago that he was not going to release the names of businesses because it would harm their business.
Based on our conversations, here are the tidbits of what we know:
- We are not being provided a copy of the list in advance, but were told there are “a few grocery stores on the list, but mostly convenience stores and restaurants.”
- The information that will be released includes the businesses name and the number of known or suspected COVID-19 cases. We believe there is a chance that the business may not have been contacted by DHS as part of their investigation, and still appear on this list due to being named in the context of contact tracing.
- The information will only contain businesses with more than 25 employees.
- Only closed investigations will be provided, meaning that the business had 2 or more outbreaks within 28 days of each other and have not had a subsequent outbreak in 28 days, therefore the investigation is considered closed.
- One of the bullet points that the media will receive with the information states that some of the investigations were confirmed—meaning 2 or more laboratory confirmed cases occurred in the facility or were associated with a single event within 28 days of each other.
We understand the issues associated with releasing this information and know that it only adds to the hysteria and does nothing to protect the public’s health—especially since these are closed cases. The WGA had shared our concerns with the releasing of business names by DHS in July. We did not receive a response to our letter (attached) and had not heard anything from the administration on this subject matter until late yesterday when we were told the information would be released. To view the letter WGA sent to DHS on the issue, click here.
