What information does the public have the right to know about local COVID-19 cases?

SALINAS, Calif. (KION) Different counties around California have made varying decisions when it comes to releasing information on local COVID-19 cases, and how often they decide to release details.

On the Central Coast, all three counties release a daily count of coronavirus cases. As of Tuesday, Monterey County releases daily information on demographics like age range, gender and regions where patients live who have tested positive. San Benito county has a daily tracker with test numbers and age ranges. Santa Cruz county releases information like amount of tests, and age and gender demographics only on a weekly basis.

Some Santa Cruz county residents feel they haven't received enough detail.

“Information is power. We need to be educated, because when we don’t know it causes confusion," Santa Cruz county resident Christopher Lochhead said. "It causes more fear. Radical transparency will reduce fear, and more importantly enable us average citizens to take action and say what we do you need?”

Santa Cruz county does not release information, like which part of the county residents live that have COVID-19, because they don’t want to create panic or complacency in certain areas.

“There’s been a concern about protecting medical information and the privacy that goes along with it, and we want to error on the side of caution," Santa Cruz county supervisor John Leopold said. "Whether someone's in Santa Cruz or Watsonville, everyone throughout the county should take the same precautions because community spread is there."

Monterey County Supervisor Luis Alejo said it's important for as much information to be released to the public as possible.

“It was eye opening to see that 56% of the cases were right here in the Salinas area, but it was also revealing, and I think telling, for the public that 64% of those positive cases are those 49 years old or younger,” Alejo said.

Both counties now require private labs that do COVID-19 testing to report all of their testing numbers.

“It's a tool not only for our health professionals but our residents to take serious in all parts of our county,” Alejo said.

San Benito county releases all demographics, including how many people are hospitalized and have recovered. However, the county is not releasing where victims live because most residents live within a small radius.

Santa Cruz county said by next week they will have a dashboard on their website with live updated information.