It appears as though the state of Ohio does not want residents to know how many residents of nursing homes have died of COVID-19, and they are in the thick of a legal battle with one Cincinnati-area news outlet to keep that information hidden.

WCPO filed a complaint against the Ohio Department of Health in August 2020 for information on those deaths.

The TV network affiliate won its case in the Court of Common Claims.

Special Master Jeff Clark, in his ruling, said ODH officials violated the state’s public records law when it would not give information on Cincinnati nursing home COVID-19 deaths to WCPO. Although we know more than 8,000 long-term care patients across the state have died of COVID-19, we do not know specifically where those deaths occurred.

But the state continues to fight the data’s release.

WCPO reported ODH, an agency funded with taxpayer dollars, has spent more than $56,000 to fight the request.

That is your money, ladies and gentlemen.

And, according to WCPO, the dollar figure is about to increase dramatically. The ODH appealed its losses in this and similar cases to the 10th District Court of Appeals in Columbus.

Are Buckeye State health officials really so desperate to keep you from finding out what has happened in some nursing homes; or are they aiming perhaps for a ruling that chills future public records requests?

Either way, they are using taxpayer dollars to keep us in the dark.

Kudos to those at WCPO and other organizations who are fighting them.