Data accident releases COVID-19 results for 25% of Wyoming

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - A Wyoming Department of Health employee working with computer code accidentally released COVID-19 test results for one-quarter of the state’s residents.

Department officials said Tuesday the release included names, addresses, birth dates and other information.

The employee also inadvertently released law enforcement blood alcohol test information for thousands of other people going back to 2012.

In all, the employee released information on 164,010 people to private and public storage locations on GitHub.com, an internet-based software development platform.

Wyoming has 577,000 residents. Department Director Michael Ceballos says the department is taking the release seriously and he apologizes to anyone affected.