IOA Publishes Guidance for Ombuds During the Coronavirus Pandemic

The International Ombudsman Association has published a memo addressing COVID-19 and how contract tracing may affect Ombuds practices. IOA Executive Director, Chuck Howard, was responding to inquiries from Association members, but the memo was posted on the IOA blog, which is open to the public.
Traditionally, Ombuds prefer to meet in person with their visitors. Not only does this practice provide the most context for the Ombuds (i.e. the ability to decode non-verbal cues and review materials), it also makes it easier for the Ombuds to protect confidentiality. Now, all Ombuds are meeting by phone or video conference. IOA recommends that Ombuds follow their organizations' guidance on returning to the workplace and continue working remotely as long as possible.

Contact tracing presents an entirely novel threat to Ombuds' confidentiality. Ombuds may be contacted by health officials seeking to confirm whether a contagious individual met with the Ombuds. Alternately, an Ombuds who becomes ill with the coronoavirus could be asked for the names of anyone they met with recently. This kind of investigation would make most Ombuds very concerned. IOA's guidance reframes the issue with context from CDC guidelines for contact tracing (which are voluntary and confidential) and pointing out additional mitigating factors that would probably eliminate the chance that contact tracing would reveal the reasons for an Ombuds.

In light of this guidance provided by IOA on the issues identified above, IOA does not see any role appropriate for it as a "lockbox" for IOA members' visitor information. IOA also sees no need for IOA members to adopt special precautions to preserve visitor contact information beyond the ombuds' existing standard practices.

(IOA Guidance Concerning COVID-19 and Contact Tracing.)

Related posts: Chuck Howard Tapped as IOA's Inaugural Executive Director; IOA's New Executive Director Writes First Advocacy Article; IOA Opens Access to Blog.