Some residents received COVID-19 alerts by mistake

Some residents may have received a text message or email regarding COVID-19.

The Department of Health says that these messages were sent in error.

According to a statement, while training staff on a new data-sharing platform for case investigations and contact tracing, we neglected to disable the ability for texts and emails to leave the test environment.  

During that training, randomly created phone numbers and emails, with no connection to public health data, may have received messages between late May and early July.

The details of the erroneous message were not released, but DOH says that the number of texts and emails sent in error is less than 50.

They tell KXRO that when the error was discovered they  we identified which of the random emails and phone numbers could have actually received a message. 

On Friday, the department sent a follow-up message about the errors, asking people to disregard any text or email they received. 

They say “We deeply regret any inconvenience or worry we may have caused. This error does not accurately reflect the high standards we have for our training programs or for our vitally important case investigation and contact tracing work.”

DOH also also provided a webpage with more information and an email address for any follow-up questions they might have.