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PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Some state health care organizations are opposing a proposed rule change by the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention that would provide the agency more leeway to withhold information regarding the locations of communicable disease outbreaks.
The Portland Press Herald (http://bit.ly/2a1xFmy ) reports that organizations including MaineHealth and the Maine Medical Association submitted comments in opposition during a public comment period that ended Monday.
The proposal came a year after the newspaper sued the CDC after they denied a request for information about chicken pox outbreaks during the 2014-15 school year.
The CDC's position is that this type of information could jeopardize privacy because "indirect information" could identify those affected.
MaineHealth's chief medical officer says the rule would hinder efforts to act on a possible public health threat.
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Information from: Portland Press Herald, http://www.pressherald.com
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