NTMWD 2025 Summer

Pandemic ignites need for Open Government at all levels

by | Jun 10, 2020 | Opinion

Texans have been wit­nessing things that would have been unthinkable until now: Surge teams, testing of nursing homes for COVID-19 and the National Guard helping to dis­infect nursing home facilities around the state.

This is the time for the pub­lic to have access to informa­tion for their safety, protection and understanding. Govern­ment at all levels should be releasing information so the public has confidence and clarity as to what is happen­ing.

An example of where in­formation should be more forthcoming is the nursing home arena. There have been instances where government at all levels won’t release in­formation on which healthcare facilities have had infections or deaths and which ones have not. Certain groups have steadfastly refused to identify facilities where cases of CO­VID-19 have been confirmed. With Texas families desper­ately concerned about their loved ones in these centers, this is not productive or con­structive.

Some groups have cited state and federal privacy laws in refusing citizens› requests for this information. That rea­son ignores the fact that our privacy statutes prohibit re­lease of personal information that can identify a particular patient, not the facility where the patient became ill — or how many patients from a lo­cation were infected or died.

Federal authorities have in­dicated they intend to release information soon. But that’s not a permanent fix.

We need to encourage health authorities at all levels to dis­cuss outbreaks and impacts in nursing homes. This will help distraught family members to understand what is happening medically and not rely on so­cial media and the rumor mill for information about family members.

It’s important to remember that this is the people’s busi­ness, not just the business of corporations and the govern­ment. Citizens may not need personally identifiable infor­mation about a nursing home’s infected patients, but they do need to know whether they or their loved ones are in a pre­carious or dangerous situation.

In the next legislative ses­sion I will file legislation al­lowing public access to timely, detailed statistical information about disease transmission and mortality rates in healthcare facilities. The information would not be patient-specific, but it would be facility-specif­ic.

As consumers we need this information to make effective healthcare decisions for our­selves and our loved ones. As citizens, we need the informa­tion for accountability reasons and to understand what is oc­curring.

The citizen is the ultimate decision maker in both our economic and our governmen­tal systems. This pandemic has shown that it’s time for Texans to get access to information necessary to make sound de­cisions about the welfare of their families and loved ones.

For more stories like this, see the June 10 issue or subscribe online.

By Rep. Todd Hunter, State Representative (R), Corpus Christi, State District 32

Collin Fall 2025

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property ET_Builder_Module_Comments::$et_pb_unique_comments_module_class is deprecated in /home/csmediatexas/wylienews/wp-content/themes/Divi/includes/builder/class-et-builder-element.php on line 1380

0 Comments

Subscribe RH Love

Related News

Jumping to conclusions

Jumping to conclusions

Columnist John Moore finds himself a little lost with new technology. Sometimes lost a lot. Courtesy John Moore Folks aren’t counting on each other like we were 50 years ago. And technology is the wedge that’s come between us. Our parents didn’t worry about us much...

read more
Gardens and Grandma

Gardens and Grandma

Columnist John Moore didn’t like gardens as a kid. That’s changed thanks to his grandmothers. Photo: John Moore As a kid, I hated the vegetable garden. If you stood on our back porch, it was to your left. It took up the entire corner of our large yard. To me, gardens...

read more
Insurance crisis hitting public schools

Insurance crisis hitting public schools

Severe weather from hurricanes and other weather events has not spared the state’s public schools, resulting in skyrocketing property insurance costs, the Houston Chronicle reported. Insurance costs for districts have increased by 44% statewide in the past five years,...

read more
A numbers game

A numbers game

You don't see phone books much anymore. But even when they were around, columnist John Moore was nowhere to be found in one.Courtesy John Moore For those of us who once made our living working on the radio, one of the main competitors we had for advertising dollars...

read more
Kitsch me if you can

Kitsch me if you can

Columnist John Moore grew up with yard art, and still proudly displays a concrete gargoyle out on the front porch. Photo: John Moore Pink flamingos. Chalk and concrete figures. Cast iron pots with flowers. Old school bells. Cars on blocks. The yard art of yesterday....

read more
Put a pencil to it

Put a pencil to it

Columnist John Moore loves pencils. Even pencils that cost $30. Courtesy John Moore They call it, “click bait.” It’s when you come across something online that sounds amazing, so you click on it to learn more. Click bait is something that turns out to be nothing as...

read more
Time for a Change

Time for a Change

Last weekend, I did something I don’t think I’ve ever done before—I forgot to discuss the time change with my husband, the chief clock changer in our house. So when I woke up at 7:30 a.m. Sunday, I approached the day as “business as usual” and went downstairs to let...

read more
Order photos