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Ducks won’t report number of players testing positive for Covid-19

Ken Goe has the story in the Oregonian, here.

The UO website revealed Thursday that five members of the campus community have tested positive.

Some schools, among them Pac-12 rivals Colorado, Oregon State and Washington, have released information about the number of athletes to test positive this month. Colorado reported four, Washington two and OSU did not report a positive test in June, although the Beavers did have one positive in March.

None of the three schools identified the individuals who tested positive, nor the sports in which they participate.

There is not a uniform NCAA or Pac-12 policy. Arizona State and UCLA are among the Pac-12 schools that will not report the number of positive tests among athletes.

Replying by email, UO spokeswoman Kay Jarvis said the school feared reporting a distinct group of athletes could violate their privacy by allowing members of the public to figure who had been infected.

“These are students and they don’t want to be identified as sick,” Jarvis said. “In the interest of privacy expressed in federal and state law, the institution has chosen to err in favor of restricting the release of identifiable information.”

Jarvis did not cite the specific privacy laws upon which the university based its decision. …

UO pays PR flack Kay Jarvis $106K, and General Counsel Kevin Reed $370K. You’d think that would be enough to answer a reporter’s question.

7 Comments

  1. Dog 06/25/2020

    can we furlough those guys to save some bucks?

  2. anon and on and on 06/25/2020

    As long as they’re quarantined and proper tracing is carried out, that’s the important thing–and from accounts inside admin, that’s being handled very carefully and thoroughly. Doesn’t HIPAA protection come into play when talking about naming an afflicted student directly, anyway?

    • uomatters Post author | 06/25/2020

      The Oregonian is asking for numbers, not names. But you knew that. Please post an account of your accounts with inside administrators – I assume you mean GC Kevin Reed – about this.

      • oldtimer 06/26/2020

        Yes, why is the number of cases on the debate team also being hidden?

    • Fishwrapper 06/25/2020

      The decision to assemble people in these situations that have proven over and over to be higher risk for COVID-19 spreading by a public agency means we, the people, have a right to know if those steps are working or not. Throw the extra log on the fire that the people assuming the bulk of the risk are unpaid labor, and the UO has an increased moral and ethical responsibility to be transparent about whether or not their scheme to recruit some of the investment in coach’s salaries is putting people at risk, and how many. Not names, just numbers. Shame on UO.

    • woke_feld 06/26/2020

      Why, are you on bed checks @ 13th or Franklin, anon?

  3. Greg 06/29/2020

    No legal right. Medical history is private.

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