<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/9/1600281228447.png" alt="Gov. Laura Kelly says businesses in Kansas "have done a great job of opening in a safe manner." Her administration is shielding those with clusters of less than 20 COVID-19 infections from public disclosure. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption>Gov. Laura Kelly says businesses in Kansas "have done a great job of opening in a safe manner." Her administration is shielding those with clusters of less than 20 COVID-19 infections from public disclosure. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure>By SHERMAN SMITH <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2020/09/15/kansas-draws-privacy-line-to-exclude-some-businesses-from-covid-19-cluster-report/">Kansas Reflector</a>TOPEKA — Gov. Laura 
Kelly’s administration has rejected an open records request by Kansas 
Reflector seeking the name and location of businesses connected to 
COVID-19 outbreaks of fewer than 20 infections.The Kansas Department of Health and Environment last week began <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2020/09/09/kansas-names-businesses-schools-churches-long-term-care-facilities-with-covid-19-outbreaks/" target="_blank">selectively identifying active clusters of COVID-19 cases</a>
 with five or more infections for a wide range of locations, but decided
 it would only disclose the location of private businesses that have 20 
or more cases.KDHE cited a “personal 
privacy” exemption in state law in rejecting the request to identify all
 businesses, and the governor’s office said the identity of businesses 
with up to 19 infections will remain secret because they are not public 
entities. The administration wouldn’t explain why personal privacy is a 
concern for business but not a concern for sports teams, fraternities, 
rallies, hospitals, churches or other locations that are named.The policy to shield 
businesses from public scrutiny is inconsistent with the message from 
health secretary Lee Norman, who says people should have information 
that allows them to make decisions about personal health and safety.The agency began naming 
locations, Norman said during last week’s news briefing, “to empower 
Kansans to be more proactive about assessing their own personal risks. 
Am I putting myself at risk to go here or to go there?”Some private businesses, 
including an optometrist in Colby associated with seven cases, are 
identified by KDHE because they fall under other categories. The risk 
associated with other businesses is kept secret.“Our businesses actually 
by and large have done a great job of opening in a safe manner,” Kelly 
said during her Monday news briefing at the Capitol. “We have had no 
known outbreaks in any of our hair salons, our barber shops, even in our
 restaurants. It’s working. Our bars — another story.”KDHE combines bars and 
restaurants into a single category. Since the beginning of the pandemic,
 outbreaks at 14 bars and restaurants were responsible for 272 
infections.An additional 153 
outbreaks, with seven deaths and 1,159 cases, have been connected to 
private businesses. Those figures don’t include the 19 deaths and 3,470 
cases attributed to outbreaks at meatpacking plants.“In terms of choosing the 
numbers five and 20, there is a natural dividing line when we looked at 
the number of active cases,” said Lauren Fitzgerald, a spokeswoman for 
the governor. “As an example, if we disclosed every outbreak with two 
cases, that would be 95% of the outbreaks. If we increased it to five, 
this dropped to 50%. We saw a similar natural breaking point at 20 for 
businesses.”KDHE denied the request 
for businesses below the “breaking point.” An attorney for the agency 
cited an exemption in the Kansas Open Records Act that allows government
 agencies to withhold public information “of a personal nature where the
 public disclosure thereof would constitute a clearly unwarranted 
invasion of personal privacy.”Ron Keefover, president of
 the Kansas Sunshine Coalition for Open Government, said it was 
difficult to understand how the personal privacy exemption could be 
applied to records about businesses.“After all,” Keefover 
said, “no one is seeking the names, Social Security numbers, or other 
identifiers of anyone with COVID-19. Rather, the statistical information
 is sought to educate and inform the public about locations that may 
have resulted in the infections. We ask: Why is it not an invasion of 
privacy to release locations involving 20 or more infections, but it is 
so for businesses with fewer than that number? That simply doesn’t make 
sense.”Keefover also wondered why
 the disclosure of COVID-19 outbreaks at businesses would be different 
from the disclosure of restaurant inspections, which are handled by KDHE
 and made available to the public.“If we can find out if 
someone smokes in the food preparation, surely we should be able to know
 if a cook or other employee has contracted a life-threatening 
infectious disease,” Keefover said.Kansas Reflector has filed
 a complaint with the Kansas Attorney General’s office, which has the 
authority to investigate alleged violations of the Kansas Open Records 
Act.As of Monday, eight 
private businesses were connected to enough infections to make the 
public cluster list. They include meatpacking plants in southwest Kansas
 and Simmons Pet Food in Emporia. The Amazon Fulfillment Center in 
Kansas City is listed with 42 cases.“Nothing is more important
 than safety of our teams,” said Maria Boschetti, a spokeswoman for 
Amazon. “We’ve invested over $800 million in the first half of this year
 implementing 150 significant process changes on COVID-19 safety 
measures by purchasing items like masks, hand sanitizer, thermal 
cameras, thermometers, sanitizing wipes, gloves, additional handwashing 
stations, and adding disinfectant spraying in buildings, procuring COVID
 testing supplies, and additional janitorial teams.”Businesses have pressured 
the Kelly administration to avoid the disclosure of any information 
relating to COVID-19 outbreaks. Alan Cobb, president and CEO of the 
Kansas Chamber, said businesses are adhering to recommendations from the
 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which include closing to 
allow employees to quarantine and time for extra cleaning.Cobb said it was “near 
impossible to trust the data shared by KDHE,” which could be tainted 
with “false reports and misrepresentation of the actual facts.”“KDHE is linking cases 
that are ‘associated’ with a business without providing any clear 
definition to what ‘associated’ means, nor is it explaining how it is 
determined that the business is the source of a virus outbreak,” Cobb 
said.He said the chamber has 
heard from businesses of all sizes that are concerned about the negative
 impact of being placed on the public cluster list.Norman, the KDHE 
secretary, said “we don’t want anything we do to be anti-commerce or 
anti-business, but also we want people to be safe.”KDHE’s figures show 534 
people have died from COVID-19 in Kansas, and 49,899 have been infected.
 Those numbers include a spike of 23 deaths between Friday and Monday. 
The total number of deaths has increased by 88 in two weeks — the same 
amount recorded for all of August.Norman said the most common complaint he has received has been the decision to keep information about outbreaks secret.“I’ve commonly been asked,
 ‘Can we have the information so we can make informed decisions for 
ourselves and our loved ones?’ ” Norman said.Sherman Smith has written award-winning news stories about the instability of the Kansas foster care system, misconduct by government officials, sexual abuse, technology, education, and the Legislature. He spent 16 years at the Topeka Capital-Journal, where he started on the copy desk, then oversaw digital operations, was the managing editor and reported from the Statehouse.

Kan. draws line to exclude some from COVID-19 cluster report