SAN FRANCISCO – In this California epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, officials say they are trying to be as transparent as possible. They’re keeping a cruise ship out at sea, updating citizens on new cases and providing emergency resources to battle the epidemic.

But on one matter there remains absolute silence: the names of those who have died after being exposed to COVID-19. One California patient and at least 13 Seattle-area residents have died from the illness.

Experts in public health and bioethics say that far from helping society, a decision to reveal the identities of people – dead or alive – who have contracted the coronavirus would be a disaster with far-reaching ramifications.

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“Doctors don’t out people,” says Jeffrey Kahn, director of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics in Maryland, which focuses on the ethical implications of scientific advancement. “Whether it’s HIV, syphilis, coronavirus or anything else, people simply won’t show up to their doctor if they feel they might be outed for a condition.”

Kahn pointed to the Hippocratic Oath, which explicitly states that a physician will “respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know.”

What’s more, laws laid down in 1996 by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ensure that a person's health records remain undisclosed to the general public long after their death. That means releasing names of anyone with COVID-19 would violate HIPAA. There have been 51 confirmed COVID-19 cases in California.

“Just wanting to know something like who died from coronavirus doesn’t entitle you to know,” says David Magnus, director of Stanford University’s Center for Biomedical Ethics in California.

“There are far more deadly diseases that doctors see and don’t report publicly,” Magnus says. “Then it’s up to public health officials to step in, but they won’t tell people who you are.”

Coronavirus cases trigger 'tracing'

What officials are duty-bound to do in any sort of infectious case – whether it’s a sexually transmitted disease or tuberculosis – is referred to as “contact tracing” investigation. This piece of detective work involves finding out anyone who has been in contact with the infected patient and advising them of best next steps.

With at least 14 deaths in the USA from COVID-19 to date – compared with 3,400 worldwide, the vast majority of them in China and 148 in Italy – it remains fairly easy for U.S. health officials to contact-trace to try to keep people healthy.

In one California county, that is exactly what is happening. While calls Thursday to Seattle-area health officials were not returned, Placer County Health and Human Services spokeswoman Katie Combs Prichard was candid about protocol.

“HIPAA requires us to protect confidentiality, and we are only releasing as much information as is necessary to protect public health,” says Combs Prichard, adding that officials did disclose that the one COVID-19 victim in the county – described as an older adult with underlying conditions – was from the city of Rocklin.

“We are absolutely 100% doing a thorough contact investigation, that’s why we don’t feel there is a public health reason to release more identifying information,” she says. “We’ve been able to develop a thorough list of close contacts and are contacting them directly and placing them in quarantine.”

Health officials walk 'a fine line'

Placer County's approach represents "a constant discussion in public health, as we're walking a fine line between causing harm and getting people unnecessarily frightened versus making sure they adopt the right precautions," says Claire Wheeler, professor of Public Health at Portland State University.

Wheeler points out that while medical officials may be following protocol by not releasing the names of COVID-19 victims or those who have the virus, that doesn't stop those contacted by health workers from sharing details, including a name, with friends or through social media.

Should such personal information be leaked to the media or online, "it could be very bad for those individuals," Wheeler says. "What if they lost their jobs? In these situations, people become hysterical. That's the most dangerous piece of this."

Worrying about the identities of those affected by COVID-19 may soon be moot, says Stephen Latham, director of Yale University’s Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics in Connecticut.

With experts predicting that the number of people carrying the virus is bound to increase exponentially in the coming days and weeks, people may start reacting to coronavirus reports in much the same way they react to the spread of seasonal flu, which this year has infected 32 million Americans and killed 18,000.

People will focus more on protecting themselves – with rituals such as frequent hand-washing and avoiding crowds – and care less about the specific names or ethnicities of those who have COVID-19, Latham predicts.

“In this first days of coronavirus, Chinese people and even Chinese food were stigmatized, but now we know this has nothing to do with going to a Chinese restaurant. It’s more about bumping into anyone of any ethnicity who might have this disease,” he says. “It’s everyone.”

Contributing: Lindsay Schnell, USA TODAY

Follow USA TODAY national correspondent Marco della Cava: @marcodellacava