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Disclosure That EMT Has Virus Pits Privacy Against Public Right to Know

By BOB HENNELLY
Posted 3/16/20

News that three Transportation Security Administration employees and a member of the city’s Emergency Medical Service have the coronavirus means managers must balance workers’ privacy rights with the importance of transparency during an evolving public health crisis, experts say.

“Certainly, the public has the right to know if a member of the FDNY EMS has contracted the virus and that they are being treated,” said Dr. Harriet Fraad, a family therapist who has treated public employees. “But they don’t have the right to know who he/she is so they can be vilified or the subject of personal gossip.”

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