Two state lawmakers are pushing for the Pennsylvania Department of Health to release more specifics on the location of COVID-19 patients in Carbon County.

On Tuesday, state Rep. Doyle Heffley, R-Carbon, said he sent a second request to Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine asking for more detailed reporting of the case numbers after the first request went unanswered.

Specifically, Heffley is asking the state to break down the case numbers by ZIP code, rather than overall county case numbers.

“Such transparency would assist county officials in identifying hot spots to better aid our health care providers,” Heffley said. “Other counties are identifying numbers in each borough and township on their county health department website. We are requesting the same information be provided by the state to counties without their own health departments.”

Heffley also requested the number of out-of-state residents being treated in Pennsylvania hospitals be included in the data.

“I am concerned the actual number of people being treated in our northeastern Pennsylvania hospitals may be skewed by patient admissions from bordering states,” he said. “I want to ensure we have the most accurate information available as the needs of our local health care facilities are evaluated.”

Last week, the Carbon County Commissioners said they asked for the help of state Sen. John Yudichak and Heffley in the hopes that the two legislators could get the Pennsylvania Department of Health to send more detailed reports, such as geographical locations, to county emergency management agencies.

The legislators penned a joint letter and sent it to the state on March 26, but as of the meeting last Thursday, nothing had been received from the Department of Health.

“Both Sen. Yudichak and Rep. Heffley were our strongest advocates from Day 1 when we raised this issue,” Commissioner Chris Lukasevich said.

Mark S. Grochocki, chief of staff for Yudichak, said they are “cautiously optimistic” that information will at least be released to EMA directors in both Carbon and Luzerne counties.

He said Yudichak is continuing to press the administration.

“We can understand if they don’t want to release to the general public, but at the very least it should be released to the EMA directors,” Grochocki said.

The board of commissioners also sent letters this week to officials at St. Luke’s University Health Network and Lehigh Valley Health Network, as well as the Department of Health requesting the same information.

The commissioners cited an action by the U.S. Department of Health, Office of Civil Rights, which confirmed that personal health information “may be released on an individual who has been infected with, or exposed to, COVID-19 without the individual’s HIPAA authorization to prevent or control spread of disease.”

However, when Levine was asked about the issue Tuesday in her daily press conference, she said there are concerns about privacy and confidentiality which prevent the department from releasing that data.

“It’s always a balance between privacy and confidentiality concerns, and the needs of the public, and we’re continuing to weigh that balance,” she said.

Chris Reber contributed to this report.