1-Minute Insight: Your employee tested positive for COVID, now what ….

The need for organizations to name COVID positive cases and their locations is a dicey issue. Reveal too little information and people suspect cover-up and feel insecure. Reveal too much and people may behave irrationally hindering case management.

As a communicator, I am often asked how much should an organization reveal if one of their employees is COVID positive.

To me, the dissemination of public health information should be guided by the three principles of (a) health and safety; (b) protection of individual privacy; and (c) the need to minimize fear.

Any information disseminated is therefore on a ‘need to know’ basis.

In the case of individual names, naming the person during contact tracing overrides the need to protect an individual’s identity on the basis of health and safety. This however, does not extend to publicly disclosing the name of the individual unless the individual is uncontactable and his or her continued presence in the community jeopardizes the health and safety of many others.

As for naming the premises in which the COVID positive cases were present, publicly identifying the premise, beyond those who need to know, is not only unnecessary but may…