Lambton's medical officer of health argues the public doesn't need to know the name of a business where a workplace COVID-19 outbreak was declared.
Dr. Sudit Ranade told Sue Storr on CHOK (103.9 FM, 1070 AM) Wednesday morning that protecting an individual's personal health information is paramount.
"It's very, very important that the data that we show about a disease does not reveal potentially who has that disease, that is so important that the personal health information of people is protected," said Ranade. "Protecting yourself from COVID-19 does not require you to know where it was or who has it, it requires you to conduct yourself as if it is present, to stay away from other people, to manage your interactions, all of the things that we're asking you to do."
Dr. Ranade said there are two reasons why people think they need to know.
"I think one is curiosity, that definitely is a lower priority than protecting people's health information. The second reason is fear and that's a very valid reason, the feeling that 'oh my gosh I can protect myself if I know where it is.' The problem is because of the testing delay, because of the testing time frames, because of the follow-up time needed, at any point when we're telling you there is a disease, we're really just telling you where it was not where it is," he said.
The health unit said workplaces will only be named if public notification will help identify additional close contacts that cannot be determined through contact tracing.
The workplace outbreak was originally reported as five cases on Monday, August 10.
Sarnia-Lambton's total confirmed case count is 327 with nine cases currently active.
-With files from Sue Storr
