Required to wear a mask after April 9, 2021? (Huntsville, Madison: neighborhood, schools)

[johnsonkk]

Originally Posted by FatTails

Nah, HIPAA doesn't apply to vaccine passports. HIPAA only applies to employers and healthcare providers.

A person’s immunization record is covered under HIPAA. Meaning your immunizations are part of your medical information. Schools have to get guardian approval to review students immunizations and physicals. Schools are not employers for students. Schools are granted approval (45 CFR 164.512(b)(1)(vi).) to review immunizations but HIPAA is not just your employer and medical professionals. Many other business sectors have to comply with HIPAA requirements.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/45/164.512

https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-profes...ons/index.html

[FatTails]

Originally Posted by johnsonkk

A person’s immunization record is covered under HIPAA. Meaning your immunizations are part of your medical information. Schools have to get guardian approval to review students immunizations and physicals. Schools are not employers for students. Schools are granted approval (45 CFR 164.512(b)(1)(vi).) to review immunizations but HIPAA is not just your employer and medical professionals. Many other business sectors have to comply with HIPAA requirements.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/45/164.512

https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-profes...ons/index.html

Sure, HIPAA protects medical privacy, but the easy solution is to not store vaccination status. As long as that doesn't happen businesses are free to request proof of vaccination and are not subject to HIPAA. This is why states are passing laws forbidding it; there is no federal law that prevents businesses from doing it. Walmart is free to ask you if you have AIDS and that's not a HIPAA violation as they long as they aren't keeping records.

[johnsonkk]

Originally Posted by FatTails

Sure, HIPAA protects medical privacy, but the easy solution is to not store vaccination status. As long as that doesn't happen businesses are free to request proof of vaccination and are not subject to HIPAA. This is why states are passing laws forbidding it; there is no federal law that prevents businesses from doing it. Walmart is free to ask you if you have AIDS and that's not a HIPAA violation as they long as they aren't keeping records.

.....and you don’t have to show proof. So Walmart can ask, they cannot ask for proof and they can’t keep a record. Walmart (non pharmaceutical) hasn’t trained all their employees on HIPAA requirements thus they can’t begin to ask, collect but not keep vaccine data. Maybe the Walmart greeter training has ramped up?

This isn’t the same as asking a simple question as if you will be paying in cash or credit...

[FatTails]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...aa/5165952001/

[OmarLittle]

Originally Posted by Weaubleau

Kudos to the South in general, from a northerner. The South has in general reacted the best way to this ginned up reaction to what is essentially a bad flu season. It is sad to see my fellow northerners/easterners literally go insane over this and buy into the narrative that criminal against humanity Fauci along with the CFR is propagating.

Bad flu season = 584,975 deaths
(not)

[johnsonkk]

Originally Posted by FatTails

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...aa/5165952001/

Your application of HIPAA in the USA Today article is akin to a business to asking customers to not conceal carry in the store. Meaning a business can ask and a customer can choose to not enter. To claim HIPAA just doesn’t apply when a business asks and then begins to review vaccine passports, then HIPAA begins to apply.

https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/fi...df?language=es

The USA Today article is very finite on the message they wanted to broadcast. It said businesses can ask. Well of course they ask. But the article doesn’t go down the obvious road of what’s next when customers produce vaccine data. You said earlier that it’s okay if businesses just don’t keep any record of vaccines. The same businesses that record purchases when you use credit cards. Targeted advertising has been around for decades. But HIPAA would come into play when businesses hire non medical door greeters to begin review passports, photo ID, and review this data. When vaccine data gets misused, then that business will try claiming they aren’t at fault. Businesses have to adhere to a litany of privacy requirements and fortunately HHS covers these privacy impact assessments. https://www.hhs.gov/foia/privacy/index.html

The vaccine passport prohibition is now sitting for signature on the Governor’s desk.

[FatTails]

Originally Posted by johnsonkk

Your application of HIPAA in the USA Today article is akin to a business to asking customers to not conceal carry in the store. Meaning a business can ask and a customer can choose to not enter. To claim HIPAA just doesn’t apply when a business asks and then begins to review vaccine passports, then HIPAA begins to apply.

https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/fi...df?language=es

The USA Today article is very finite on the message they wanted to broadcast. It said businesses can ask. Well of course they ask. But the article doesn’t go down the obvious road of what’s next when customers produce vaccine data. You said earlier that it’s okay if businesses just don’t keep any record of vaccines. The same businesses that record purchases when you use credit cards. Targeted advertising has been around for decades. But HIPAA would come into play when businesses hire non medical door greeters to begin review passports, photo ID, and review this data. When vaccine data gets misused, then that business will try claiming they aren’t at fault. Businesses have to adhere to a litany of privacy requirements and fortunately HHS covers these privacy impact assessments. https://www.hhs.gov/foia/privacy/index.html

The vaccine passport prohibition is now sitting for signature on the Governor’s desk.

I'm not sure what point you're trying to make but I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. You linked to a webpage on FOIA and the Privacy Act, but those laws apply to the government and not to private businesses.

[MisterEd51]

Originally Posted by johnsonkk

.....and you don’t have to show proof. So Walmart can ask, they cannot ask for proof and they can’t keep a record. Walmart (non pharmaceutical) hasn’t trained all their employees on HIPAA requirements thus they can’t begin to ask, collect but not keep vaccine data. Maybe the Walmart greeter training has ramped up?

This isn’t the same as asking a simple question as if you will be paying in cash or credit...

Walmart is not a good example. Barring local regulations as of last Friday May 14 Walmart does not require vaccinated customers to wear a mask and for employees of May 18. When stores were required to restrict the numbers of customers in a store they had a greeter out front to keep up with that. After that restriction was gone so was the greeter. Also, since the greeter is gone it is obvious that they are not going to even try to check if a maskless customers has been vaccinated.



It may be the big stores realize the absurdity of trying to keep up with this so they may choose to not even try. Some smaller stores I have been in solve this by still making everyone wear a mask.


That means there may be two solutions to this.
1. People are on the honor system whether they wear a mask or not.

2. Everyone has to wear a mask.



In both scenarios people don't have to be confronted with the awkward question as to whether they have vaccinated or not.

[dijkstra]

Originally Posted by MisterEd51

Walmart is not a good example. Barring local regulations as of last Friday May 14 Walmart does not require vaccinated customers to wear a mask and for employees of May 18. When stores were required to restrict the numbers of customers in a store they had a greeter out front to keep up with that. After that restriction was gone so was the greeter. Also, since the greeter is gone it is obvious that they are not going to even try to check if a maskless customers has been vaccinated.



It may be the big stores realize the absurdity of trying to keep up with this so they may choose to not even try. Some smaller stores I have been in solve this by still making everyone wear a mask.


That means there may be two solutions to this.
1. People are on the honor system whether they wear a mask or not.

2. Everyone has to wear a mask.



In both scenarios people don't have to be confronted with the awkward question as to whether they have vaccinated or not.

Walmart along with most of the other big retailers that had formerly stated they were going to still require masks after the mandate ended, released that statement as pretty much PR for a good look. As mentioned, most of the greeters were gone immediately when the mandate ended and they did not check for customers wearing masks. Depending on what time of day you went to those retailers you could find maybe 80% wearing masks to at times 20% at best. In the morning when older and retired tend to shop, you would see more masks. Later in the day and in the evenings when younger and people getting off of work were coming in you would see less masks.

[MisterEd51]

Originally Posted by dijkstra

Walmart along with most of the other big retailers that had formerly stated they were going to still require masks after the mandate ended, released that statement as pretty much PR for a good look. As mentioned, most of the greeters were gone immediately when the mandate ended and they did not check for customers wearing masks. Depending on what time of day you went to those retailers you could find maybe 80% wearing masks to at times 20% at best. In the morning when older and retired tend to shop, you would see more masks. Later in the day and in the evenings when younger and people getting off of work were coming in you would see less masks.

As far as I could tell the greeters were counting people coming and going so Walmart did not exceed the allowed percentage number at the time. It was not about masks. I think that requirement ended at the same time as the mask mandate. I get the impression that many stores especially big ones simply took a laid back stance as long as most people wore masks and nobody complained if somebody wasn't. It was probably a no-win situation if they confronted a customer about this.