Abilene Times

ABILENE – The City of Abilene will not release tracing information involving COVID-19 to the public.

According to KTAB, while the city will notify individuals regarding possible exposure, it will not release that information publicly. The federal government has not made a mandated structure regarding tracing information and state and local governments are handling COVID-19 data differently.

Annette Lerma, the director of health for the Abilene-Taylor County Public Health, told the news agency that the investigations that go into each case are extremely thorough.

“How many people were around you?” Lerma said. “What time did you go? Can you provide the receipts, so we can be as accurate as we can with the whereabouts?”

Lerma told the news agency there was no clear-cut answer to inform the public regarding investigations.

“If we treat it as if every business can expose us, I think that’s the most important message that we can provide,” Lerma said.

City Manager Robert Hanna told KTAB he wanted to make sure people realize that COVID-19 is in the community already and everyone needs to stay at home.

As of April 17, Texas reported 17,371 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, including 428 deaths. Taylor County has 89 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Lacey Nobles, the City of Lubbock's public information officer, believes as much information as possible should be shared with the public.

“This is something that is going to ultimately going to affect every citizen of the community,” Nobles told KTAB. “Why not be as open as you can? It may cause some panic on some people, but also they can’t tell you that, you didn’t inform them.”

Lubbock County has 401 confirmed cases of COVID-19.