San Diego Media Outlets Lose Bid to Obtain Covid Outbreak Data

San Diego County doesn’t have to release the locations of Covid-19 outbreaks because the ability of officials to conduct effective contact tracing outweighs the public’s interest in knowing that information, a California appellate court said.

The southern California county kept a spreadsheet showing local outbreaks, including dates, the number of people involved, and locations, such as restaurants, gyms, or salons. For public use, the county redacts the names and addresses of each location.

Three local news media organizations filed requests for location-specific information under the California Public Records Act. That law, modeled after the federal Freedom of Information Act, contains ...