Covid 19 coronavirus: Police shared private health details of Covid-positive people with potential employers

Police transmitted the private health details of six people with Covid-19 to potential employers, but the infected job applicants had no idea their information had been shared.

The police have apologized for the privacy violations, which occurred during the police investigation procedures.

Privacy Commissioner John Edwards called the behavior “inappropriate” and exceeded the role of the organization in helping to manage the pandemic.

Edwards today published the Consultation on the Disclosure of Covid-19 Patient Information by the Ministry of Health to Emergency Services and the recommended government agencies reviewed how they handled highly confidential Covid-19 patient information.

It found that the Health Ministry was initially justified in providing details of Covid patients to emergency services, but should have tightened the rules once the country lowered alert levels.

“We found a couple of cases where potential employers were notified about people’s Covid status, and that came as a surprise to the people involved and it wasn’t really justified,” Edwards told Newstalk ZB.

Assistant Police Commissioner Jevon McSkimming’s service said the organization accepted the findings and apologized for the behavior.

“We regret the disclosure of information and recognize that this should not have happened,” he said.

“We have apologized to those people whose Covid-19 status we share when we shouldn’t have.”

Emergency services received daily updates of the personal data of people with Covid-19 starting in March, when community transmission was rife, in case front-line personnel came into contact with infectious people.

But in April, the Privacy Commission had received complaints from Covid-positive patients that the police had told potential employers that they had tested positive for Covid-19 as part of their investigative service.

“I think many people would have been surprised to learn that a local emergency service in Auckland regularly received spreadsheets with the details of people in very controlled isolation – on the South Island, for example,” Edwards said.

This information only came to light when the former president of the National Party, Michelle Boag, resigned from the party after it was revealed that she sent private information about patients to another national deputy.

Boag, who received the information through his role with the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust, shared the private details with disgraced national MP Hamish Walker in an attempt to help him rebuild his reputation following the racism allegations.

Walker then leaked the information, including patient names and dates of birth, to the mainstream media to prove the government’s shortcomings in information security, he said at the time.

Edwards said emergency services were justified in learning the details of those who tested positive for Covid, but police had gone too far to share it with employers.

“This means that police vetting personnel are making effective judgment on the relevance of clinical information without clinical information,” he said.

“It should not be up to police investigative personnel to make this decision when the agency relies on that information to make decisions, such as determining a person’s suitability for employment.”

Police immediately stopped releasing these details during the investigation process after Edwards raised concerns, he said.

Edwards made a series of recommendations to both the Health Ministry and the police following the investigation, including that people who are tested for Covid-19 will be told what will happen to their personal information, and that implement measures to ensure the security of someone’s medical information when shared with third parties.