{"id":23982,"date":"2020-09-01T18:00:29","date_gmt":"2020-09-01T22:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=23982"},"modified":"2020-09-01T18:00:29","modified_gmt":"2020-09-01T22:00:29","slug":"health-policy-experts-weigh-in-on-student-privacy-issue-at-bu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2020\/09\/01\/health-policy-experts-weigh-in-on-student-privacy-issue-at-bu\/","title":{"rendered":"Health Policy Experts Weigh in on Student Privacy Issue at BU"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"300\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" allow=\"autoplay\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/885918382&amp;color=%23ff5500&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false&amp;show_teaser=true&amp;visual=true\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div style=\"font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc; line-break: anywhere; word-break: normal; overflow: hidden; white-space: nowrap; text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-weight: 100;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/wtbu\" title=\"wtbu\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">wtbu<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/wtbu\/health-policy-experts-weigh-in-on-student-privacy-issue-at-bu\" title=\"Health Policy Experts Weigh in on Student Privacy Issue at BU\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Health Policy Experts Weigh in on Student Privacy Issue at BU<\/a><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By Grace Ferguson<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On Aug 25, Boston University <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/articles\/2020\/citing-student-privacy-bu-faculty-wont-be-told-if-students-test-positive-for-covid-19\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">announced<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that it would not notify professors if a student in one of their classes tests positive for COVID-19.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/allcaution.com\/2020\/08\/25\/a-deceptive-and-negligent-policy-statement\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some faculty<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> say they have a right to know about infections in their classes, for their own safety. One educators\u2019 union has even started a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/act.seiu.org\/a\/bucovid082020\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">petition<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> against BU\u2019s decision.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But the university says its policy is a matter of student privacy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even if BU doesn\u2019t identify students by name, it could be easy to figure out who tested positive in smaller classes\u2014the one student who suddenly switches to remote learning is probably the one student who has the virus. If students don\u2019t think their privacy is being protected, BU says they might not be honest to contact tracers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ultimately, the debate is a clash between public information and personal privacy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThis is a classic conflict in public health, especially if we go toward more data-driven public health techniques,\u201d <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/drexel.edu\/dornsife\/academics\/faculty\/Robert%20Field\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Robert Field<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a health policy expert at Drexel University, said. \u201cHaving personal data is an extremely powerful tool for treating and preventing diseases.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Field is a professor himself, and he said he would want to know if one of his students tested positive. Even though masks and social distancing are helpful, Field said we still don\u2019t know everything about COVID-19 transmission.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cSo I think there is a risk, and I think others in the room have a right to know when that risk exists,\u201d Field said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If a professor finds out that one of their students was carrying the virus, Field said they might want to take extra precautions, like wearing a KN95 mask or limiting their time on campus.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cTo me, the interest of protection from infection outweighs the interest in protecting the privacy [of students], especially since the disclosure would be indirect\u2014we\u2019re not saying the student\u2019s name would be given to anyone,\u201d Field said. \u201cBut it would be a warning to those who are in that class to be extra vigilant.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the federal medical privacy law, doesn\u2019t apply to COVID-19 testing at colleges, so faculty can be told about student test results. But the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the federal education privacy law, does apply, which means faculty would be legally bound to keep the identity of infected students private.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vumc.org\/health-policy\/person\/melissa-mcpheeters-phd-mph\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Melissa McPheeters<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a health policy expert at Vanderbilt University, said BU\u2019s policy shows a lack of faith in professors.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cYou know, I think it devalues a professor\u2019s ability to use discretion and take care of their students, to some degree,\u201d McPheeters said. \u201cIt\u2019s a little paternalistic to not trust your faculty to do the right thing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">McPheeters said BU isn\u2019t alone. Lots of universities are trying to figure out how to protect their communities without compromising privacy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI do understand that the universities are struggling with that a little bit, and that they do have an obligation to protect the privacy of their students,\u201d McPheeters said. \u201cBut they\u2019ve hired these faculty for a reason. They\u2019re good faculty. They should also trust them a little bit.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/profile\/george-annas\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">George Annas<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the director of BU\u2019s Center for Health Law, Ethics &amp; Human Rights, has a different take.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cActually, I think it\u2019s the right policy,\u201d Annas said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He\u2019s confident that BU\u2019s current precautions will keep COVID-19 from spreading. Everyone has to wear masks and stay six feet apart in classrooms, and students who test positive have to go into isolation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIf this was necessary to protect the professor, that\u2019s a whole different thing,\u201d Annas said. \u201cBut it\u2019s clearly not.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Annas added that public health and personal privacy aren\u2019t necessarily at odds.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cUsually, they\u2019re not in conflict. I mean, people have a hard time getting their head around that,\u201d Annas said. \u201cBut usually protecting privacy enhances public health, makes people more willing to go to the doctor, more willing to get diagnosed, more willing to seek treatment.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>wtbu \u00b7 Health Policy Experts Weigh in on Student Privacy Issue at BU By Grace Ferguson &nbsp; On Aug 25, Boston University announced that it would not notify professors if a student in one of their classes tests positive for COVID-19. Some faculty say they have a right to know about infections in their classes, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18157,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1597,14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23982"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18157"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23982"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23982\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23983,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23982\/revisions\/23983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}