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For weeks, state leaders have insisted they could not identify the names of long-term care facilities with COVID-19 outbreaks because doing so would violate patient privacy laws. This, despite the fact that other states release similar information.
But now our state has admitted there was another (and I’m guessing, more pressing) reason they’ve refused: It turns out that information could be bad for business. And in Arizona, the business interests of private entities outweigh the concerns of consumers, even during a public health crisis.
Surprised?
We shouldn’t be. This is, after all, what it means to run government like a business. Private industries take center stage. Profits take precedence over people.