Utah attorney sues Nebraska state epidemiologist in public-records fight over COVID testing

Nebraska's acting state epidemiologist is being sued by a Utah attorney after he denied her request for an unredacted validation report regarding COVID-19 tests administered by Test Nebraska.

At issue is whether the blacked-out information qualifies as trade secrets or should be released under public-records laws.

In the lawsuit filed in Lancaster County District Court, Suzette Rasmussen's attorney, Andre Barry, said: "The public has an interest in knowing whether the COVID-19 tests provided by Nomi Health are (or were) reliable or accurate as claimed, and whether the state's contract with Nomi Health was worth the cost."

In April 2020, near the start of the pandemic, Nebraska announced a $26.9 million, no-bid contract with Nomi Health, a Utah company, to establish mobile testing centers and provide up to 540,000 tests over six months, with an option to pay more for additional testing after that.

Read more: https://omaha.com/news/state-and-regional/utah-attorney-sues-nebraska-state-epidemiologist-in-public-records-fight-over-covid-testing/article_41a11bf6-0fef-11ec-b8be-e7be00420ae7.html