Communications regarding N95s and discussion of airborne coronavirus (Department of Health and Mental Hygiene)

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Request Title: Communications regarding N95s and discussion of airborne coronavirus (Department of Health

Request Description: To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the New York Freedom of Information Law, I hereby request the following records:

I request internal deliberations, memos, and/or emails regarding or mentioning:

The use of N95s and/or elastomeric respirators by healthcare workers in New York, non-medical workers in New York, and/or the general public of New York. I recommend search terms like "N95", "P100", "OV/P100", "elastomeric", "respirator", and all plurals thereof.

I also request records of discussions, memos, or emails, over whether to include any such N95s and/or respirators in regulations, orders, public guidelines, or information distributed to the public.

I also request records of any discussions, memos, or emails which mention "aerosols", aerosol spread, "airborne", or airborne spread of the coronavirus. Also to include, discussions, debate, or decisions, regarding any uncertainty or controversy over the routes of coronavirus contagion, be it droplet, fomite, or airborne.

I also request records of any discussions, memos, or emails mentioning a "risk analysis" for exposure of the public to coronavirus.

I also request records of any discussions, memos, or emails regarding the spread of coronavirus at distances greater than 6 feet, or when no other individual is present.

I also request records of any discussions, memos, or emails regarding coronavirus contact tracing that involve distances greater than 6 feet, or close contact times less than 15 minutes.

I also request records of any discussions, memos, or emails of the role of ventilation and/or filtration in coronavirus mitigations. Also to include in search terms, "ionizer"/"ionizers", "CO2", and "carbon dioxide".

I also request records of any discussions, memos, or emails about the "precautionary principle".

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

ALEXANDER RICCIO

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Requester's Contact Information



Name:
Alexander Riccio

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Email:
requests@muckrock.com (mailto:requests@muckrock.com)

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Please contact the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) via email at foil@health.nyc.gov
for any further information. (mailto:foil@health.nyc.gov)

Dear Mr. Riccio:

I apologize for the delay. I have conducted a preliminary search using the terms you have provided below, and it returned over 2.5 million hits. Please narrow the scope of your request so that the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene can locate records responsive to your request.
Thanks,

Bernadette O'Donnell
Records Access Officer / Agency Attorney
NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
42-09 28th St., CN 14-29
Long Island City, NY 11101

Narrowing the search to records from 12.1.19 to the present still results in 1.6 million hits. Please let me know if you can further amend the search or if you would like me to provide you with a formal denial with your appeal rights.
Thanks,
Bernadette

Dear Alexander Riccio:

The NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) denies your Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request with the above-referenced control number. Your amended request with the following search terms returned over 1.5 million hits:

"N95" OR "P100" OR "OV/P100" OR "ELASTOMERIC" OR "RESPIRATOR" OR "AEROSOLS" OR "AEROSOL SPREAD" OR "AIRBORNE" OR "AIRBORNE SPREAD OF THE CORONAVIRUS"(c:c)(date=2019-12-01..2021-11-30)

Therefore, your request does not reasonably describe the records you seek, as is required by FOIL §89(3)(a). Moreover, DOHMH cannot respond to your request without manually reviewing over 1.5 million emails to determine which records qualify for applicable exemptions. The burden on DOHMH would be incalculable, necessitating what would likely be thousands- if not tens of thousands- of hours of effort by DOHMH attorneys. FOIL §89(3)(a) limits the burden on agencies to extract records from a computer storage system only if doing so would require "reasonable effort," and the effort required to respond to your request is unreasonable. As the New York Committee on Open Government has opined, "it would be an unreasonable burden... to review perhaps thousands of individual records in order to identify those portions of such records that are required to be made available." FOIL-A0-18949 (August 20, 2012).

Moreover, DOHMH cannot engage an outside service to conduct the review on behalf of the agency, as contemplated by FOIL §89(3)(a). The volume of emails subject to review would very likely include a high percentage of exempt inter/intra agency communications under FOIL §87(2)(g). Only DOHMH attorneys have the requisite understanding of the agency and its programs to understand what materials would fall under this exemption. For these reasons, your request is denied.

You may file a written appeal of this denial within 30 days of the date of this message. The appeal should be addressed to:

Chari Anhouse, Esquire

Appeals Officer & Associate General Counsel

Email: recordsaccess@health.nyc.gov<mailto:recordsaccess@health.nyc.gov>

The notice of appeal should include the request control number, the date of this denial message, a description of the records that were the subject of the request, the specific legal grounds for your appeal, and the full name and email address of the original requester.

Sincerely,

Bernadette O'Donnell
Records Access Officer / Agency Attorney
NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
42-09 28th St., CN 14-29
Long Island City, NY 11101

Sent from the New York City Department of Health & Mental Hygiene. This email and any files transmitted with it may contain confidential information and are intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept for the presence of computer viruses.