Arizona court upholds decision to not release COVID records

(KYMA, KECY/ AP News) - An appellate court in Arizona has upheld a lower court’s decision to deny a request for Covid-19-related medical records that could include information that should be kept private.

J.D. Ball of Scottsdale represented himself in a lawsuit initially filed in Maricopa County Superior Court against the Arizona Department of Health Services in 2020 after it refused to provide him with documents he requested concerning the Coronavirus outbreak.

Ball argued he needed the information for a book he was writing about Covid-19 so he could “source the data” but the appellate court said “a danger remains that patient identity could be inferred" with the broad categories Ball laid out.

Ball sued after the Arizona Department of Health Services denied his request for the records it used when preparing its publications about the disease, but the state health agency said it could not divulge private medical information, communicable disease information, or death certificates.