PHOENIX – Soon Arizonans will be able to track the spread of COVID-19 by ZIP code. Beginning Sunday, the Arizona Department of Health Services will begin sharing the information.
Beginning 4/12 at noon, https://t.co/wHxqtJ42qn will include the following #COVID19 info: race and ethnicity on confirmed cases, location of confirmed cases by zip code, ages & gender of related deaths, number of hospital beds & ICU beds available, & other data points.
— AZ Dept of Health (@AZDHS) April 9, 2020
According to the director of the Arizona Department of Health Services, Dr. Cara Christ, the Department will begin sharing “limited, but important patient data.”
The Department will share “race and ethnicity information on confirmed cases, location information on confirmed cases by ZIP code, and the ages and genders of COVID-related deaths,” Christ told KJZZ.
In keeping with health privacy laws, officials will not release data in ZIP codes where the low number of cases could potentially reveal a patient’s identity.
Christ said Sunday’s public records won’t be “100 percent complete,” because hospitals won’t file their first reports until Friday, April 10.