Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19) (SARS-CoV-2) [2020]

[BRiT]

Ohio is at 27.2K new tests.
Ohio is at +613 new cases, with Cuyahoga County at +57 new cases.
Test Positivity rate is around 2.25% for these new tests.

Ohio's numbers are following the pattern where numbers seem lowest on the weekend and start climbing higher during the week. Today's numbers seem too low, like artificially low, especially the number of hospitalizations and ICU admissions.

Here is the trends which is using reported date and not arbitrary and incorrectly identified user reported onset date taken from https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/covid-19/dashboards/current-trends



Here is the raw data for the last few days:

Spoiler: Raw Data

Date; Total Tests; New Tests; Tests per 1M Population; Total Cases; Cuyahoga County Cases; Hospitalizations; Total Deaths; New Cases; New Hospitalizations; New Deaths
2020-07-28 1,394,132 54,583 119,269 86,497 11,938 10,425 3,382 1,320 140 38
2020-07-29 1,416,157 22,025 121,153 87,893 12,088 10,553 3,422 1,396 128 40
2020-07-30 1,441,708 25,551 123,339 89,626 12,212 10,678 3,442 1,733 125 20
2020-07-31 1,463,508 21,800 125,204 91,159 12,399 10,790 3,489 1,533 112 47
2020-08-01 1,488,034 24,526 127,302 92,087 12,518 10,857 3,515 928 67 26
2020-08-02 1,512,649 24,615 129,408 93,031 12,646 10,900 3,529 944 43 14
2020-08-03 1,530,577 17,928 130,942 93,963 12,753 10,992 3,539 932 92 10
2020-08-04 1,550,747 20,170 132,667 95,106 12,881 11,119 3,570 1,143 127 31
2020-08-05 1,569,479 18,732 134,270 96,305 13,011 11,231 3,596 1,199 112 26
2020-08-06 1,592,841 23,362 136,268 97,471 13,141 11,366 3,618 1,166 135 22
2020-08-07 1,617,822 24,981 138,406 98,675 13,269 11,447 3,652 1,204 81 34
2020-08-08 1,639,195 21,373 140,234 99,969 13,414 11,516 3,668 1,294 69 16
2020-08-09 1,663,196 24,001 142,287 100,848 13,514 11,565 3,669 879 49 1
2020-08-10 1,682,271 19,075 143,919 101,731 13,640 11,629 3,673 883 64 4
2020-08-11 1,702,317 20,046 145,634 102,826 13,734 11,760 3,708 1,095 131 35
2020-08-12 1,722,857 20,540 147,391 104,248 13,869 11,901 3,734 1,422 141 26
2020-08-13 1,747,737 24,880 149,520 105,426 13,999 12,023 3,755 1,178 122 21
2020-08-14 1,773,797 26,060 151,749 106,557 14,120 12,128 3,784 1,131 105 29
2020-08-15 1,796,692 22,895 153,708 107,674 14,278 12,210 3,824 1,117 82 40
2020-08-16 1,823,935 27,243 156,039 108,287 14,335 12,236 3,826 613 26 2

 

[iroboto]

I had to go for a test today. Uncomfortable nose swab.
That being said, my symptoms are an ear infectoin and a nasal drip, mild soreish throat.
All of this in the past has happened with a sinus infection, but I digress

 

[BRiT]

One week later... current data from WorldOMeters for the top 19 states and a handful of other states with high growth rate of new cases. It's possible some states have not reported final numbers for today.

Illinois passes the 200K mark. Arizona passes New Jersey. Tennessee passes Pennsylvania. Virginia passes South Carolina.

1. California is at 626,131 with +4,506, last week 562,604.
2. Florida is at 573,416 with +3,779, last week 532,806. They started this surge with only 57,447 cases on June 2, 2020.
3. Texas is at 556,969, last week 509,518

4. New York is at 455,429 with +490, last week 450,426

5. Georgia is at 237,030 with +1,862, last week 216,596
6. Illinois is at 207,413 with +1,562, last week 195,380

7. Arizona is at 193,537 with +883, last week 186,923
8. New Jersey is at 193,004 with +191, last week 190,303

9. North Carolina is at 145,569 with +927, last week 136,218
10. Louisiana is at 137,918 with +1,181 since Friday, last week 131,399
11. Tennessee is at 133,708 with +1,961, last week 122,712
12. Pennsylvania is at 129,013 with +482, last week 123,312
13. Massachusetts is at 123,199, last week 121,040

14. Alabama is at 108,433 with +853, last week 101,334
15. Ohio is at 108,318 with +616, last week 100,852
16. Virginia is at 106,687 with +937, last week 100,086
17. South Carolina is at 106,497 with +615, last week 100,435

18. Michigan is at 102,259 with +477, last week 96,726
19. Maryland is at 100,212 with +519, last week 95,503

Mississippi is at 72,136 with +381, last week 67,173
Missouri is at 67,382 with +985, last week 58,974
Wisconsin is at 65,741 with +685 new cases.
Nevada is at 61,305 with +697, last week 56,230
Oklahoma is at 48,342 with +544, last week 43,566

 

[A1xLLcqAgt0qc2RyMz0y]

2019 Novel Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19) for Dallas County Texas
https://www.dallascounty.org/departments/dchhs/2019-novel-coronavirus.php

August 16, 2020 - 63,428 confirmed cases - 825 deaths

63,428 confirmed cases up 5,361 and one new death
those 5,361 new cases represent a 9.2% increase over the last day

Of the 5,361 new cases we are reporting today, 5,195 came from a large volume of reports received yesterday through the Texas Department of State Health Services’ (DSHS) electronic laboratory reporting system. According to DSHS, this backlog of reports is due to coding errors and is beginning to be resolved through a recent system upgrade in their reporting system. The majority of the 5,361 cases received are from tests conducted in July.

Increases (by percent) since March 27, 2020 :
21.0%, 19.6%, 11.1%, 12.5%, 14.9%
-- Month of April 2020 --
15.8%, 13.7%, 10.8%, 10.2%, 9.6%, 3.9%, 9.2%, 5.0%, 8.2%, 7.3%, 7.0%, 4.8%, 3.8%, 5.0%, 5.8%,
4.0%, 6.0%, 6.1%, 4.5%, 3.5%, 3.6%, 3.1%, 3.0%, 2.6%, 2.6%, 3.6%, 3.0%, 4.3%, 3.5%, 5.3%
-- Month of May 2020 --
5.3%, 4.9%, 6.0%, 5.7%, 5.9%, 5.3%, 5.2%, 4.9%, 4.7%, 4.5%, 4.3%, 3.9%, 3.8%, 3.6%, 2.9%, 3.0%,
2.8%, 3.0%, 2.9%, 2.4%, 2.3%, 2.5%, 2.0%, 2.1%, 1.9%, 2.1%, 2.1%, 2.2%, 2.1%, 2.2%, 2.3%
-- Month of June 2020 --
2.2%, 2.5%, 2.2%, 2.6%, 2.7%, 2.5%, 2.2%, 2.1%, 2.4%, 2.4%, 2.4%, 2.5%, 2.5%, 2.2%, 2.1%,
2.1%, 2.8%, 2.6%, 2.4%, 2.5%, 2.5%, 2.7%, 2.6%, 2.2%, 2.2%, 2.7%, 2.9%, 2.9%, 2.8%, 2.9%
-- Month of July 2020 --
2.5%, 3.2%, 4.8%, 4.7%, 4.3%, 4.7%, 4.0%, 3.7%, 4.1%, 3.8%, 3.5%, 3.6%, 3.3%, 2.9%, 2.9%, 2.8%,
3.1%, 2.6%, 2.6%, 2.5%, 1.7%, 1.0%, 1.5%, 1.5%, 2.8%, 1.7%, 0.9%, 1.7%, 1.5%, 1.1%, 1.4%
-- Month of August 2020 --
1.2%, 1.0%, 0.7%, 1.2%, 1.0%, 0.4%, 0.8%, 1.0%, 1.6%, 1.1%, 0.5%, 0.4%, 1.1%, 1.6%, 1.3% and now 9.2%

Increases (by count) since March 27, 2020 :
+64, +72, +49, +61, +82
-- Month of April 2020 --
+100, +100, +90, +94, +97. +43, +106, +63, +108, +105, +107, +79, +65, +89, +109,
+80, +124, +134, +104, +84, +90, +81, +80, +71, +75, +105, +91, +135, +112, +179
-- Month of May 2020 --
+187, +181, +234, +237, +253, +246, +251, +249, +250, +251, +253, +236, +243, +235, +199, +214,
+205, +224, +225, +186, +183, +204, +172, +178, +171, +190, +197, +202, +200, +219, +228
-- Month of June 2020 --
+228, +257, +239, +285, +298, +289, +263, +254, +298, +300, +312, +328, +345, +302, +305,
+306, +413, +392, +394, +395, +408, +454, +445, +391, +403, +496, +561, +570, +572, +601
-- Month of July 2020 --
+544, +708, +1,085, +1,103, +1,062, +1,214, +1,077, +1,029, +1,201, +1,164, +1,101, +1,174, +1,114, +1,000, +1,055, +1,027,
+1,195, +1,031, +1,044, +1,026, +734, +413, +648, +659, +1,267, +800, +426, +789, +704, +537, +707
-- Month of August 2020 --
+614, +518, +382, +641, +508, +230, +422, +540, +843, +581, +298, +234, +641, +885, +754 and now +5,361

As of 11:00am August 16, 2020, Dallas County Health and Human Services is reporting 5,361 additional confirmed cases of 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19), bringing the total confirmed case count in Dallas County to 63,428, including 825 confirmed deaths. The total probable case count in Dallas is 2,515, including 7 probable deaths from COVID-19.

Of the 5,361 new cases we are reporting today, 5,195 came from a large volume of reports received yesterday through the Texas Department of State Health Services’ (DSHS) electronic laboratory reporting system. According to DSHS, this backlog of reports is due to coding errors and is beginning to be resolved through a recent system upgrade in their reporting system. The majority of the 5,361 cases received are from tests conducted in July. Please see a provisional breakdown below of these newly reported cases by date of collection:

Month

# of Positive Patients
March 13
April 149
May 80
June 52
July 4,298
August 603


We are reporting one additional death today of a man in his 50’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He had been critically ill in an area hospital, and had underlying high risk health conditions.

“It is expected that there will be more batches of cases missed by the State’s system being reported in the coming days. All this reinforces the importance of self-isolating and following CDC guidance if you were tested and awaiting results. This also means isolating from your family and wearing a mask inside your home to keep them from getting infected in case you are positive for COVID-19. Because of the errors, none of these 5,195 cases had been revealed to our public health team had any tracing done on them. That’s why it’s important also if you know you’re COVID-19 positive to inform all those you’ve been in close contact with so that they can self-isolate. A close contact is anyone that you’ve been around for more than 15 minutes, 48 hours before the onset of your symptoms through your illness, whether or not both or either of you were masked during the time you were together. Also, I again want to reemphasize the importance of universal masking one hundred percent of the time. Others’ masks protect you and your mask protects others. If you choose not to wear a mask in a public setting or to wear your mask with your nose exposed, you are essentially saying thank you for protecting me but my convenience and comfort is more important than me protecting you. Please everyone wear your mask over your nose and properly fitted to your face when around people outside you home. Masking also does not do away with the requirement of six foot distancing, frequent hand washing, and avoiding those unnecessary trips for things other than work, essentials, and properly spaced outdoor exercise. Please avoid any activity where others are not masked one hundred percent of the time. We can do this North Texas and you are doing a great job. It’s important for those who are masking to keep it up and for those who are not masking one hundred percent of the time to step up. When it comes to masking, all of us must move from selfishness to community sacrifice for less people to get sick, more businesses to stay open and our kids to get back to school and activities sooner rather than later,” said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins.

Over 2,925 children under 18 years of age have been diagnosed with confirmed COVID-19 since July 1st, including 66 children who have been hospitalized for COVID-19. Of all confirmed cases requiring hospitalization to date, more than two-thirds have been under 65 years of age. Diabetes has been an underlying high-risk health condition reported in about a third of all hospitalized patients with COVID-19.

The percentage of respiratory specimens testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 has been declining but remains high, with about 13.8% of symptomatic patients presenting to area hospitals testing positive in week 32. Of the total confirmed deaths reported to date, about 27% have been associated with long-term care facilities.

 

[A1xLLcqAgt0qc2RyMz0y]

State of Texas complete COVID-19 data breakdown

https://txdshs.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/ed483ecd702b4298ab01e8b9cafc8b83
https://txdshs.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/0d8bdf9be927459d9cb11b9eaef6101

Data as of 8/16/2020 @3:50 PM:

Total Viral Tests: 4,439,041 (Up +117,365)

Cases Reported: 535,042 (Up +6,204)

Texas is actively suppressing Positive Cases from FDA-approved "highly accurate" antigen tests and the daily case increases going forward are suspect.

Fatalities: 9,983 (Up +143)

Texas tests per 1M population are 166,109 which places Texas as the 14th worst State.

Click this link: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us and on the page click the Tests / 1M pop column twice to sort from worst to first

They are using roughly 28.996 million as the population of Texas.

Texas is still mixing Viral and Antibody Tests in the worldometers report on total test numbers which reports 4,816,487 tests which is inflated by 377,446 Antibody Tests.

As of today the real number of Total Viral Tests for Texas is 4,439,041 which works out to be 153,091 per 1M population so Texas is really the 10th worst state in testing

 

[Mariner]

I had to go for a test today. Uncomfortable nose swab.
That being said, my symptoms are an ear infectoin and a nasal drip, mild soreish throat.
All of this in the past has happened with a sinus infection, but I digress

It seems that Yale have developed a saliva test which has similar accuracy to the nose swabs but is obviously less invasive and cheaper:

https://news.yale.edu/2020/08/15/ya...test-receives-fda-emergency-use-authorization

Could be helpful in increasing the testing numbers in the expected surge of infections this winter. Unless you know who decides that increasing numbers of tests isn't good for the polls.

No more news on the Darpa-linked early blood test which was supposedly going to be authorised in May and which could have diagnosed cases before they became infectious. Just have to assume this one was a non-starter.

 

[BRiT]

Ohio is at 19.3K new tests.
Ohio is at +775 new cases, with Cuyahoga County at +83 new cases.
Test Positivity rate is around 4.01% for these new tests.

Ohio's numbers are following the pattern where numbers seem lowest on the weekend and start climbing higher during the week.

Here is the trends which is using reported date and not arbitrary and incorrectly identified user reported onset date taken from https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/covid-19/dashboards/current-trends



Here is the raw data for the last few days:

Spoiler: Raw Data

Date; Total Tests; New Tests; Tests per 1M Population; Total Cases; Cuyahoga County Cases; Hospitalizations; Total Deaths; New Cases; New Hospitalizations; New Deaths
2020-07-29 1,416,157 22,025 121,153 87,893 12,088 10,553 3,422 1,396 128 40
2020-07-30 1,441,708 25,551 123,339 89,626 12,212 10,678 3,442 1,733 125 20
2020-07-31 1,463,508 21,800 125,204 91,159 12,399 10,790 3,489 1,533 112 47
2020-08-01 1,488,034 24,526 127,302 92,087 12,518 10,857 3,515 928 67 26
2020-08-02 1,512,649 24,615 129,408 93,031 12,646 10,900 3,529 944 43 14
2020-08-03 1,530,577 17,928 130,942 93,963 12,753 10,992 3,539 932 92 10
2020-08-04 1,550,747 20,170 132,667 95,106 12,881 11,119 3,570 1,143 127 31
2020-08-05 1,569,479 18,732 134,270 96,305 13,011 11,231 3,596 1,199 112 26
2020-08-06 1,592,841 23,362 136,268 97,471 13,141 11,366 3,618 1,166 135 22
2020-08-07 1,617,822 24,981 138,406 98,675 13,269 11,447 3,652 1,204 81 34
2020-08-08 1,639,195 21,373 140,234 99,969 13,414 11,516 3,668 1,294 69 16
2020-08-09 1,663,196 24,001 142,287 100,848 13,514 11,565 3,669 879 49 1
2020-08-10 1,682,271 19,075 143,919 101,731 13,640 11,629 3,673 883 64 4
2020-08-11 1,702,317 20,046 145,634 102,826 13,734 11,760 3,708 1,095 131 35
2020-08-12 1,722,857 20,540 147,391 104,248 13,869 11,901 3,734 1,422 141 26
2020-08-13 1,747,737 24,880 149,520 105,426 13,999 12,023 3,755 1,178 122 21
2020-08-14 1,773,797 26,060 151,749 106,557 14,120 12,128 3,784 1,131 105 29
2020-08-15 1,796,692 22,895 153,708 107,674 14,278 12,210 3,824 1,117 82 40
2020-08-16 1,823,935 27,243 156,039 108,287 14,335 12,236 3,826 613 26 2
2020-08-17 1,843,274 19,339 157,693 109,062 14,418 12,319 3,832 775 83 6

 

[BRiT]

Oklahoma high school student knowingly went to class with coronavirus, officials say
The school district said the Westmoore High School student was asymptomatic and believed it was safe to attend the first day of classes.

The student at Westmoore High School in Moore, just south of Oklahoma City, was "under the understanding that since they were asymptomatic ... they did not need to quarantine for the full 14-day-period," school officials told NBC affiliate KFOR of Oklahoma City on Friday.

...

Moore schools announced that another student had also tested positive for the virus and that 22 students who had come in contact with the two students are now quarantining.

"We will do absolutely everything within our power to safeguard and protect our students and our staff," school spokesperson Dawn Jones told KFOR.

"I don't know why people do things, why they make certain decisions, what they know to be true and inform us of," Jones said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-new...went-class-coronavirus-officials-say-n1236895

 

[A1xLLcqAgt0qc2RyMz0y]

2019 Novel Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19) for Dallas County Texas
https://www.dallascounty.org/departments/dchhs/2019-novel-coronavirus.php

August 17, 2020 - 65,278 confirmed cases - 829 deaths

65,278 confirmed cases up 1,850 and four new deaths
those 1,850 new cases represent a 2.9% increase over the last day

“Once again we have a high number of cases coming in, this time from June, due to a coding error in the State’s electronic laboratory reporting system. While at this point it is reasonable and understandable for people to be skeptical of the State’s reporting system, it is not reasonable to be skeptical of the science that is proving to be effective throughout the world in controlling the spread of COVID-19, namely wearing a mask, six-foot distancing, hand-washing, deferring unnecessary trips until the numbers are lower, and avoiding any indoor activity where people outside your home cannot wear a mask one hundred percent of the time. The State is working to fix the coding error but we expect to have several more days of discovered
backlogged cases where the patient was tested, received their results from the lab, but the information was lost in the State’s system and therefore no tracing was done.

Increases (by percent) since March 27, 2020 :
21.0%, 19.6%, 11.1%, 12.5%, 14.9%
-- Month of April 2020 --
15.8%, 13.7%, 10.8%, 10.2%, 9.6%, 3.9%, 9.2%, 5.0%, 8.2%, 7.3%, 7.0%, 4.8%, 3.8%, 5.0%, 5.8%,
4.0%, 6.0%, 6.1%, 4.5%, 3.5%, 3.6%, 3.1%, 3.0%, 2.6%, 2.6%, 3.6%, 3.0%, 4.3%, 3.5%, 5.3%
-- Month of May 2020 --
5.3%, 4.9%, 6.0%, 5.7%, 5.9%, 5.3%, 5.2%, 4.9%, 4.7%, 4.5%, 4.3%, 3.9%, 3.8%, 3.6%, 2.9%, 3.0%,
2.8%, 3.0%, 2.9%, 2.4%, 2.3%, 2.5%, 2.0%, 2.1%, 1.9%, 2.1%, 2.1%, 2.2%, 2.1%, 2.2%, 2.3%
-- Month of June 2020 --
2.2%, 2.5%, 2.2%, 2.6%, 2.7%, 2.5%, 2.2%, 2.1%, 2.4%, 2.4%, 2.4%, 2.5%, 2.5%, 2.2%, 2.1%,
2.1%, 2.8%, 2.6%, 2.4%, 2.5%, 2.5%, 2.7%, 2.6%, 2.2%, 2.2%, 2.7%, 2.9%, 2.9%, 2.8%, 2.9%
-- Month of July 2020 --
2.5%, 3.2%, 4.8%, 4.7%, 4.3%, 4.7%, 4.0%, 3.7%, 4.1%, 3.8%, 3.5%, 3.6%, 3.3%, 2.9%, 2.9%, 2.8%,
3.1%, 2.6%, 2.6%, 2.5%, 1.7%, 1.0%, 1.5%, 1.5%, 2.8%, 1.7%, 0.9%, 1.7%, 1.5%, 1.1%, 1.4%
-- Month of August 2020 --
1.2%, 1.0%, 0.7%, 1.2%, 1.0%, 0.4%, 0.8%, 1.0%, 1.6%, 1.1%, 0.5%, 0.4%, 1.1%, 1.6%, 1.3%, 9.2%,
and now 2.9%

Increases (by count) since March 27, 2020 :
+64, +72, +49, +61, +82
-- Month of April 2020 --
+100, +100, +90, +94, +97. +43, +106, +63, +108, +105, +107, +79, +65, +89, +109,
+80, +124, +134, +104, +84, +90, +81, +80, +71, +75, +105, +91, +135, +112, +179
-- Month of May 2020 --
+187, +181, +234, +237, +253, +246, +251, +249, +250, +251, +253, +236, +243, +235, +199, +214,
+205, +224, +225, +186, +183, +204, +172, +178, +171, +190, +197, +202, +200, +219, +228
-- Month of June 2020 --
+228, +257, +239, +285, +298, +289, +263, +254, +298, +300, +312, +328, +345, +302, +305,
+306, +413, +392, +394, +395, +408, +454, +445, +391, +403, +496, +561, +570, +572, +601
-- Month of July 2020 --
+544, +708, +1,085, +1,103, +1,062, +1,214, +1,077, +1,029, +1,201, +1,164, +1,101, +1,174, +1,114, +1,000, +1,055, +1,027,
+1,195, +1,031, +1,044, +1,026, +734, +413, +648, +659, +1,267, +800, +426, +789, +704, +537, +707
-- Month of August 2020 --
+614, +518, +382, +641, +508, +230, +422, +540, +843, +581, +298, +234, +641, +885, +754, +5,361,
and now +1,850

As of 11:00am August 17, 2020, Dallas County Health and Human Services is reporting 1,850 additional confirmed cases of 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19), bringing the total confirmed case count in Dallas County to 65,278, including 829 confirmed deaths. The total probable case count in Dallas is 2,519, including 7 probable deaths from COVID-19.

The additional 4 deaths being reported today are the following:

• A woman in her 40’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. She had been critically ill in an area hospital, and had underlying high risk health conditions.
• A woman in her 70’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. She had been critically ill in an area hospital, and had underlying high risk health conditions.
• A man in his 70’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He had been hospitalized, and had underlying high risk health conditions.
• A woman in her 70’s who was a resident of the City of Richardson. She had been critically ill in an area hospital, and had underlying high risk health conditions.

Over 2,925 children under 18 years of age have been diagnosed with confirmed COVID-19 since July 1st, including 66 children who have been hospitalized for COVID-19. Of all confirmed cases requiring hospitalization to date, more than two-thirds have been under 65 years of age. Diabetes has been an underlying high-risk health condition reported in about a third of all hospitalized patients with COVID-19.

The percentage of respiratory specimens testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 has been declining but remains high, with about 13.8% of symptomatic patients presenting to area hospitals testing positive in week 32. Of the total confirmed deaths reported to date, about 27% have been associated with long-term care facilities.

 

[A1xLLcqAgt0qc2RyMz0y]

State of Texas complete COVID-19 data breakdown

https://txdshs.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/ed483ecd702b4298ab01e8b9cafc8b83
https://txdshs.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/0d8bdf9be927459d9cb11b9eaef6101

Data as of 8/17/2020 @3:50 PM:

Total Molecular Viral Tests: 4,476,167 (Up +37,126)

Cases Reported: 542,950 (Up +7,908)

Texas is again suppressing case increases as their website reports 2,713 new cases whereas the difference from today's total cases vs yesterday's is 7,908

Texas is actively suppressing Positive Cases from FDA-approved "highly accurate" antigen tests and the daily case increases going forward are suspect.

Fatalities: 10,034 (Up +51)

Texas tests per 1M population are 167,096 which places Texas as the 14th worst State.

Click this link: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us and on the page click the Tests / 1M pop column twice to sort from worst to first

They are using roughly 28.996 million as the population of Texas.

Texas is still mixing Viral and Antibody Tests in the worldometers report on total test numbers which reports 4,845,105 tests which is inflated by 368,938 Antibody Tests.

As of today the real number of Total Viral Tests for Texas is 4,476,167 which works out to be 154,372 per 1M population so Texas is really the 10th worst state in testing

 

[BRiT]

UNC-Chapel Hill starts remote learning within week of starting classes due to COVID-19

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill announced Monday that it was converting to all virtual classes after reporting 135 new COVID-19 cases and four clusters within a week of having started in-person classes for the fall semester — becoming the first college to send students home after having reopened.

"After consultation with state and local health officials, #UNC's infectious disease experts and the UNC system, Carolina is making two changes to de-densify campus," the school announced on Twitter on Monday afternoon. "On Wednesday, Aug. 19, all undergraduate instruction will shift to remote learning."

The shift was announced within an hour of the updated case counts' being added on the school's COVID-19 dashboard, which tracks metrics like tests conducted, positive cases and isolation and quarantine capacity.

The dashboard shows 135 new COVID-19 cases — 130 students and fives employees — for the week of Aug. 10 to Aug. 16.

...

Robert Kelchen, an associate professor of higher education at Seton Hall University, said other campuses trying to reopen will face similar issues.

"Given the number of cases already at colleges, it's only a matter of time before they all shift to remote learning," Kelchen said.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/u...ue-to-covid-19/ar-BB185b8C?ocid=mmx&PC=EMMX20

 

[BRiT]

Ohio is at 19.9K new tests.
Ohio is at +861 new cases, with Cuyahoga County at +69 new cases.
Test Positivity rate is around 4.33% for these new tests.

Ohio's numbers are following the pattern where numbers seem lowest on the weekend and start climbing higher during the week.

Here is the trends which is using reported date and not arbitrary and incorrectly identified user reported onset date taken from https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/covid-19/dashboards/current-trends



Here is the raw data for the last few days:

Spoiler: Raw Data

Date; Total Tests; New Tests; Tests per 1M Population; Total Cases; Cuyahoga County Cases; Hospitalizations; Total Deaths; New Cases; New Hospitalizations; New Deaths
2020-07-30 1,441,708 25,551 123,339 89,626 12,212 10,678 3,442 1,733 125 20
2020-07-31 1,463,508 21,800 125,204 91,159 12,399 10,790 3,489 1,533 112 47
2020-08-01 1,488,034 24,526 127,302 92,087 12,518 10,857 3,515 928 67 26
2020-08-02 1,512,649 24,615 129,408 93,031 12,646 10,900 3,529 944 43 14
2020-08-03 1,530,577 17,928 130,942 93,963 12,753 10,992 3,539 932 92 10
2020-08-04 1,550,747 20,170 132,667 95,106 12,881 11,119 3,570 1,143 127 31
2020-08-05 1,569,479 18,732 134,270 96,305 13,011 11,231 3,596 1,199 112 26
2020-08-06 1,592,841 23,362 136,268 97,471 13,141 11,366 3,618 1,166 135 22
2020-08-07 1,617,822 24,981 138,406 98,675 13,269 11,447 3,652 1,204 81 34
2020-08-08 1,639,195 21,373 140,234 99,969 13,414 11,516 3,668 1,294 69 16
2020-08-09 1,663,196 24,001 142,287 100,848 13,514 11,565 3,669 879 49 1
2020-08-10 1,682,271 19,075 143,919 101,731 13,640 11,629 3,673 883 64 4
2020-08-11 1,702,317 20,046 145,634 102,826 13,734 11,760 3,708 1,095 131 35
2020-08-12 1,722,857 20,540 147,391 104,248 13,869 11,901 3,734 1,422 141 26
2020-08-13 1,747,737 24,880 149,520 105,426 13,999 12,023 3,755 1,178 122 21
2020-08-14 1,773,797 26,060 151,749 106,557 14,120 12,128 3,784 1,131 105 29
2020-08-15 1,796,692 22,895 153,708 107,674 14,278 12,210 3,824 1,117 82 40
2020-08-16 1,823,935 27,243 156,039 108,287 14,335 12,236 3,826 613 26 2
2020-08-17 1,843,274 19,339 157,693 109,062 14,418 12,319 3,832 775 83 6
2020-08-18 1,863,180 19,906 159,396 109,923 14,487 12,436 3,871 861 117 39

 

[A1xLLcqAgt0qc2RyMz0y]

2019 Novel Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19) for Dallas County Texas
https://www.dallascounty.org/departments/dchhs/2019-novel-coronavirus.php

August 18, 2020 - 66,065 confirmed cases - 839 deaths

66,065 confirmed cases up 787 and ten new deaths
those 787 new cases represent a 1.2% increase over the last day

Increases (by percent) since March 27, 2020 :
21.0%, 19.6%, 11.1%, 12.5%, 14.9%
-- Month of April 2020 --
15.8%, 13.7%, 10.8%, 10.2%, 9.6%, 3.9%, 9.2%, 5.0%, 8.2%, 7.3%, 7.0%, 4.8%, 3.8%, 5.0%, 5.8%,
4.0%, 6.0%, 6.1%, 4.5%, 3.5%, 3.6%, 3.1%, 3.0%, 2.6%, 2.6%, 3.6%, 3.0%, 4.3%, 3.5%, 5.3%
-- Month of May 2020 --
5.3%, 4.9%, 6.0%, 5.7%, 5.9%, 5.3%, 5.2%, 4.9%, 4.7%, 4.5%, 4.3%, 3.9%, 3.8%, 3.6%, 2.9%, 3.0%,
2.8%, 3.0%, 2.9%, 2.4%, 2.3%, 2.5%, 2.0%, 2.1%, 1.9%, 2.1%, 2.1%, 2.2%, 2.1%, 2.2%, 2.3%
-- Month of June 2020 --
2.2%, 2.5%, 2.2%, 2.6%, 2.7%, 2.5%, 2.2%, 2.1%, 2.4%, 2.4%, 2.4%, 2.5%, 2.5%, 2.2%, 2.1%,
2.1%, 2.8%, 2.6%, 2.4%, 2.5%, 2.5%, 2.7%, 2.6%, 2.2%, 2.2%, 2.7%, 2.9%, 2.9%, 2.8%, 2.9%
-- Month of July 2020 --
2.5%, 3.2%, 4.8%, 4.7%, 4.3%, 4.7%, 4.0%, 3.7%, 4.1%, 3.8%, 3.5%, 3.6%, 3.3%, 2.9%, 2.9%, 2.8%,
3.1%, 2.6%, 2.6%, 2.5%, 1.7%, 1.0%, 1.5%, 1.5%, 2.8%, 1.7%, 0.9%, 1.7%, 1.5%, 1.1%, 1.4%
-- Month of August 2020 --
1.2%, 1.0%, 0.7%, 1.2%, 1.0%, 0.4%, 0.8%, 1.0%, 1.6%, 1.1%, 0.5%, 0.4%, 1.1%, 1.6%, 1.3%, 9.2%,
2.9% and now 1.2%

Increases (by count) since March 27, 2020 :
+64, +72, +49, +61, +82
-- Month of April 2020 --
+100, +100, +90, +94, +97. +43, +106, +63, +108, +105, +107, +79, +65, +89, +109,
+80, +124, +134, +104, +84, +90, +81, +80, +71, +75, +105, +91, +135, +112, +179
-- Month of May 2020 --
+187, +181, +234, +237, +253, +246, +251, +249, +250, +251, +253, +236, +243, +235, +199, +214,
+205, +224, +225, +186, +183, +204, +172, +178, +171, +190, +197, +202, +200, +219, +228
-- Month of June 2020 --
+228, +257, +239, +285, +298, +289, +263, +254, +298, +300, +312, +328, +345, +302, +305,
+306, +413, +392, +394, +395, +408, +454, +445, +391, +403, +496, +561, +570, +572, +601
-- Month of July 2020 --
+544, +708, +1,085, +1,103, +1,062, +1,214, +1,077, +1,029, +1,201, +1,164, +1,101, +1,174, +1,114, +1,000, +1,055, +1,027,
+1,195, +1,031, +1,044, +1,026, +734, +413, +648, +659, +1,267, +800, +426, +789, +704, +537, +707
-- Month of August 2020 --
+614, +518, +382, +641, +508, +230, +422, +540, +843, +581, +298, +234, +641, +885, +754, +5,361,
+1,850 and now +787

As of 11:00am August 18, 2020, Dallas County Health and Human Services is reporting 787 additional confirmed cases of 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19), bringing the total confirmed case count in Dallas County to 66,065, including 839 confirmed deaths. The total probable case count in Dallas is 2,526, including 7 probable deaths from COVID-19.

The additional 10 deaths being reported today are the following:

• A man in his 50’s who was a resident of the City of Balch Springs. He had been critically ill in an area hospital, and had underlying high risk health conditions.
• A woman in her 60’s who was a resident of the City of Irving. She had been critically ill in an area hospital, and had underlying high risk health conditions.
• A woman in her 60’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. She had been critically ill in an area hospital, and had underlying high risk health conditions.
• A man in his 60’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He had been critically ill in an area hospital, and had underlying high risk health conditions.
• A woman in her 70’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. She had been critically ill in an area hospital, and had underlying high risk health conditions.
• A man in his 70’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He had been critically ill in an area hospital, and had underlying high risk health conditions.
• A man in his 70’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He had been hospitalized, and had underlying high risk health conditions.
• A man in his 80’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He had been critically ill in an area hospital, and had underlying high risk health conditions.
• A man in his 80’s who was a resident of the City of Grand Prairie. He had been critically ill in an area hospital, and had underlying high risk health conditions.
• A man in his 80’s who was a resident of a long-term care facility in the City of Dallas. He had been critically ill in an area hospital, and had underlying high risk health conditions.

From August 6 to 14th, 227 school-aged children between 5 to 18 years of age were reported to have been diagnosed with confirmed COVID-19. Over 3,549 children under 18 years of age have been diagnosed with confirmed COVID-19 since July 1st, including 66 children who have been hospitalized for COVID-19.

Of all confirmed cases requiring hospitalization to date, more than two-thirds have been under 65 years of age. Diabetes has been an underlying high-risk health condition reported in about a third of all hospitalized patients with COVID-19.

The percentage of respiratory specimens testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 has been declining but remains high, with about 14% of symptomatic patients presenting to area hospitals testing positive in week 32. Of the total confirmed deaths reported to date, about 26% have been associated with long-term care facilities.

 

[A1xLLcqAgt0qc2RyMz0y]

State of Texas complete COVID-19 data breakdown

https://txdshs.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/ed483ecd702b4298ab01e8b9cafc8b83
https://txdshs.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/0d8bdf9be927459d9cb11b9eaef6101

Data as of 8/18/2020 @3:40 PM:

Total Molecular Viral Tests: 4,500,645 (Up +24,478)

Cases Reported: 550,232 (Up +7,282)

Texas is actively suppressing Positive Cases from FDA-approved "highly accurate" antigen tests and the daily case increases going forward are suspect.

Fatalities: 10,250 (Up +216)

Texas tests per 1M population are 167,926 which places Texas as the 14th worst State.

Click this link: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us and on the page click the Tests / 1M pop column twice to sort from worst to first

They are using roughly 28.996 million as the population of Texas.

Texas is still mixing Viral and Antibody Tests in the worldometers report on total test numbers which reports 4,869,164 tests which is inflated by 368,519 Antibody Tests.

As of today the real number of Total Viral Tests for Texas is 4,500,645 which works out to be 155,216 per 1M population so Texas is really the 10th worst state in testing

 

[BRiT]

-- Month of August 2020 --
1.2%, 1.0%, 0.7%, 1.2%, 1.0%, 0.4%, 0.8%, 1.0%, 1.6%, 1.1%, 0.5%, 0.4%, 1.1%, 1.6%, 1.3%, 9.2%,
2.9% and now 1.2%

-- Month of August 2020 --
+614, +518, +382, +641, +508, +230, +422, +540, +843, +581, +298, +234, +641, +885, +754, +5,361,
+1,850 and now +787

What's up with the large increase of case numbers from Sunday and Monday?

Your post included this info, but it still seems implausible, that they'd correct so many all at once? or in 2 days? I wonder if the coding error means "data entry error" or if it means the system error that had to be updated to detect the cases from existing data.

Of the 5,361 new cases we are reporting today, 5,195 came from a large volume of reports received yesterday through the Texas Department of State Health Services’ (DSHS) electronic laboratory reporting system. According to DSHS, this backlog of reports is due to coding errors and is beginning to be resolved through a recent system upgrade in their reporting system. The majority of the 5,361 cases received are from tests conducted in July. Please see a provisional breakdown below of these newly reported cases by date of collection:

 

[A1xLLcqAgt0qc2RyMz0y]

What's up with the large increase of case numbers from Sunday and Monday?

Your post included this info, but it still seems implausible, that they'd correct so many all at once? or in 2 days? I wonder if the coding error means "data entry error" or if it means the system error that had to be updated to detect the cases from existing data.

Here is the links to the Dallas County reports for those two days:

Sunday August 16th: https://www.dallascounty.org/Assets...eports5361AdditionalPositiveCOVID-19Cases.pdf

In this report is this:

Of the 5,361 new cases we are reporting today, 5,195 came from a large volume of reports received yesterday through the Texas Department of State Health Services’ (DSHS) electronic laboratory reporting system. According to DSHS, this backlog of reports is due to coding errors and is beginning to be resolved through a recent system upgrade in their reporting system. The majority of the 5,361 cases received are from tests conducted in July.

Please see a provisional breakdown below of these newly reported cases by date of collection:

Month # of positive patients
March 13
April 149
May 80
June 52
July 4,298
August 603

Monday August 17th: https://www.dallascounty.org/Assets...eports1850AdditionalPositiveCOVID-19Cases.pdf

In this report is this:

“Once again we have a high number of cases coming in, this time from June, due to a coding error in the State’s electronic laboratory reporting system. While at this point it is reasonable and understandable for people to be skeptical of the State’s reporting system, it is not reasonable to be skeptical of the science that is proving to be effective throughout the world in controlling the spread of COVID-19, namely wearing a mask, six-foot distancing, hand-washing, deferring unnecessary trips until the numbers are lower, and avoiding any indoor activity where people outside your home cannot wear a mask one hundred percent of the time. The State is working to fix the coding error but we expect to have several more days of discovered backlogged cases where the patient was tested, received their results from the lab, but the information was lost in the State’s system and therefore no tracing was done.

Link to the Texas Covid-19 Data Portal: https://txdshs.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/ed483ecd702b4298ab01e8b9cafc8b83

This is what is being shown there:

Several commercial laboratories have submitted backlogs of test results to DSHS this week. As the backlogged test results are added to the electronic reporting system, some counties are receiving notification of COVID positive results that were previously diagnosed but not reported to the local health department at the time the test was completed. For this reason, the statewide confirmed case counts and some county case counts will include some older cases over the next few days. DSHS works daily with laboratories to facilitate reporting to ensure local jurisdictions receive timely laboratory reports. Patients were notified at the time of diagnosis through a separate process.

----------------------------------------

All of this adds up to incompetence in some testing facilities not sending test results in a timely manner, sometimes even months late. So rather than try to update reports from March through July the missing positive cases were added on Sunday and Monday.

 

[A1xLLcqAgt0qc2RyMz0y]

Also on the subject of delayed testing results for Dallas County is this article in the Dallas Morning News today:

https://edition.pagesuite.com/infin...spx?guid=edfe90e2-788b-4127-a100-1ee773bdf64a

Parkland will take over tests After concerns about delays in getting results, $14.6M contract with Honu ‘paused’

By NIC GARCIA and HOLLY K. HACKER
Staff Writers
Staff Writers


Parkland Health & Hospital System will take over one of Dallas County’s largest public coronavirus testing sites as the current contractor faces growing scrutiny over delayed test results.

Rocky Vaz, the city of Dallas’ director of emergency management, notified Honu Management Group on Monday that the city wanted the Washington state-based company to suspend testing Aug. 28.

The decision — less than two months after Honu began running drive-through testing for the city and county — came after local officials began investigating the company’s $14.6 million contract.

The company took over public testing after the city and county stopped working with the federal government because it was taking too long to return results to residents.

Public health officials have said that without a vaccine or another shutdown, testing and contact tracing are among the most important strategies local governments can adopt in order to stem the spread of the virus.

Site moved this month

Honu edged out industry giant Quest Diagnostics and a local firm to land the contract to test thousands for COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. Honu set up its first testing site July 1 at the University of Dallas in Irving. It moved this month to Dallas College’s Eastfield campus in Mesquite. The company was testing up to 500 people per day.

City officials bypassed the usual competitive bidding rules in an effort to quickly provide testing to fight the coronavirus pandemic. A Dallas Morning News investigation earlier this month found that the city missed potential warning flags in Honu’s application.

Honu CEO Devin Thornton could not be reached for comment Tuesday. He has previously defended his company’s testing work and said his goal is to help patients while keeping health care costs low. City representatives had previously said publicly that Honu was meeting the terms of its contract.

A new internal report by Dallas County’s health department obtained by The News found that wait times for results from local Honu sites have increased markedly.

The county looked at more than 12,000 test results from Honu sites in the Dallas area over six weeks in July and August. The bulk — more than 10,000 — involved Honu’s site at the University of Dallas during July.

In the first three weeks of July, it took about two days from the time patients got tested to when they received their results. By the fourth week, that jumped to eight days on average. County officials said they believe the slowdown was driven by two factors: a delay in transporting the specimens from Dallas to the lab near Austin and a backup at the lab.

In August, the testing site relocated to the Eastfield campus in Mesquite. The county also looked at nearly 1,600 results there.

At Eastfield, it took four or more days for 97% of the samples to be collected and analyzed, and then for results to be reported.

The county also found that on average, it took residents 3.3 days to get their results from the University of Dallas. Once the site moved to Eastfield in August, that time jumped to 6.1 days.

48-72 hours after lab arrival

The city’s contract says Honu is obligated to provide test results within 48 to 72 hours of specimens arriving at the lab. It’s unclear whether the contract also addresses transport times from the testing site to the lab. City and county officials did not immediately respond to questions from The News on Tuesday about contract details.

According to city officials, Honu transported patient samples from its testing sites to a lab near Austin using FDA-approved procedures.

Honu also has an agreement with the Texas Division of Emergency Management to provide testing at numerous sites around the state, including one at Mountain View College in Dallas. An agency spokesman did not return requests from The News on Tuesday seeking comment about the status of the contracts.

“As far as I’m concerned, I don’t care if it was the University of Dallas or Mountain View, they have not performed,” Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price said Tuesday during the commissioners’ meeting.

Late-night tweet

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins first announced the shift from Honu to Parkland in a late-night tweet Monday. A spokesman for Mayor Eric Johnson confirmed the change.

“The contract with Hanu [sic] is being cancelled,” Jenkins wrote.

A city spokeswoman clarified Tuesday that the contract has not been canceled, only “paused.”

The city of Dallas has paid Honu $1 million, according to the city’s public check register. Dallas County, meanwhile, has not paid any portion of its contract, said Darryl Martin, the county’s administrator. He told county commissioners Tuesday that his office was still reviewing the city’s contract to determine if Honu met the terms of the agreement. Martin said he would provide an update to commissioners next month.

Both the city and county planned to pay Honu using a portion of the $500 million in federal aid the local governments received from Congress as part of its coronavirus relief package.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Parkland has played a role in public testing, usually working with other agencies, including the federal government.

Parkland, the county hospital, expanded its role in testing when it took over the federal site at the Ellis Davis Field House in southern Dallas.

Like at Ellis Davis, Parkland staff will completely take over the Eastfield site, including screening for eligibility, registering patients and collecting specimens. Parkland will send the samples to ARUP Laboratories, the same private lab it uses for its other testing sites, Parkland officials said Tuesday.

Jenkins told county commissioners at their Tuesday meeting that the hospital would provide up to 250 tests per day, half of Honu’s volume. However, Jenkins said, the demand for tests has fallen and Parkland hopes to be able to adjust as needed later this year.

“We are trying to expand testing as schools start back up to anyone who wants it,” he said. “That hasn’t happened yet.”

 

[BRiT]

Ohio is at 19.4K new tests.
Ohio is at +958 new cases, with Cuyahoga County at +98 new cases.
Test Positivity rate is around 4.94% for these new tests.

Ohio's numbers are following the pattern where numbers seem lowest on the weekend and start climbing higher during the week.

Here is the trends which is using reported date and not arbitrary and incorrectly identified user reported onset date taken from https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/covid-19/dashboards/current-trends



Here is the raw data for the last few days:

Spoiler: Raw Data

Date; Total Tests; New Tests; Tests per 1M Population; Total Cases; Cuyahoga County Cases; Hospitalizations; Total Deaths; New Cases; New Hospitalizations; New Deaths
2020-07-31 1,463,508 21,800 125,204 91,159 12,399 10,790 3,489 1,533 112 47
2020-08-01 1,488,034 24,526 127,302 92,087 12,518 10,857 3,515 928 67 26
2020-08-02 1,512,649 24,615 129,408 93,031 12,646 10,900 3,529 944 43 14
2020-08-03 1,530,577 17,928 130,942 93,963 12,753 10,992 3,539 932 92 10
2020-08-04 1,550,747 20,170 132,667 95,106 12,881 11,119 3,570 1,143 127 31
2020-08-05 1,569,479 18,732 134,270 96,305 13,011 11,231 3,596 1,199 112 26
2020-08-06 1,592,841 23,362 136,268 97,471 13,141 11,366 3,618 1,166 135 22
2020-08-07 1,617,822 24,981 138,406 98,675 13,269 11,447 3,652 1,204 81 34
2020-08-08 1,639,195 21,373 140,234 99,969 13,414 11,516 3,668 1,294 69 16
2020-08-09 1,663,196 24,001 142,287 100,848 13,514 11,565 3,669 879 49 1
2020-08-10 1,682,271 19,075 143,919 101,731 13,640 11,629 3,673 883 64 4
2020-08-11 1,702,317 20,046 145,634 102,826 13,734 11,760 3,708 1,095 131 35
2020-08-12 1,722,857 20,540 147,391 104,248 13,869 11,901 3,734 1,422 141 26
2020-08-13 1,747,737 24,880 149,520 105,426 13,999 12,023 3,755 1,178 122 21
2020-08-14 1,773,797 26,060 151,749 106,557 14,120 12,128 3,784 1,131 105 29
2020-08-15 1,796,692 22,895 153,708 107,674 14,278 12,210 3,824 1,117 82 40
2020-08-16 1,823,935 27,243 156,039 108,287 14,335 12,236 3,826 613 26 2
2020-08-17 1,843,274 19,339 157,693 109,062 14,418 12,319 3,832 775 83 6
2020-08-18 1,863,180 19,906 159,396 109,923 14,487 12,436 3,871 861 117 39
2020-08-19 1,882,588 19,408 161,056 110,881 14,585 12,529 3,907 958 93 36

 

[A1xLLcqAgt0qc2RyMz0y]

2019 Novel Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19) for Dallas County Texas
https://www.dallascounty.org/departments/dchhs/2019-novel-coronavirus.php
https://www.dallascounty.org/Assets/uploads/docs/covid-19/press-releases/august/081920-PressRelease-DallasCountyReports399AdditionalPositiveCOVID-19Cases.pdf

August 19, 2020 - 66,464 confirmed cases - 843 deaths
66,464 confirmed cases up 399 and five new deaths
those 399 new cases represent a 0.6% increase over the last day

Increases (by percent) since March 27, 2020 :
21.0%, 19.6%, 11.1%, 12.5%, 14.9%
-- Month of April 2020 --
15.8%, 13.7%, 10.8%, 10.2%, 9.6%, 3.9%, 9.2%, 5.0%, 8.2%, 7.3%, 7.0%, 4.8%, 3.8%, 5.0%, 5.8%,
4.0%, 6.0%, 6.1%, 4.5%, 3.5%, 3.6%, 3.1%, 3.0%, 2.6%, 2.6%, 3.6%, 3.0%, 4.3%, 3.5%, 5.3%
-- Month of May 2020 --
5.3%, 4.9%, 6.0%, 5.7%, 5.9%, 5.3%, 5.2%, 4.9%, 4.7%, 4.5%, 4.3%, 3.9%, 3.8%, 3.6%, 2.9%, 3.0%,
2.8%, 3.0%, 2.9%, 2.4%, 2.3%, 2.5%, 2.0%, 2.1%, 1.9%, 2.1%, 2.1%, 2.2%, 2.1%, 2.2%, 2.3%
-- Month of June 2020 --
2.2%, 2.5%, 2.2%, 2.6%, 2.7%, 2.5%, 2.2%, 2.1%, 2.4%, 2.4%, 2.4%, 2.5%, 2.5%, 2.2%, 2.1%,
2.1%, 2.8%, 2.6%, 2.4%, 2.5%, 2.5%, 2.7%, 2.6%, 2.2%, 2.2%, 2.7%, 2.9%, 2.9%, 2.8%, 2.9%
-- Month of July 2020 --
2.5%, 3.2%, 4.8%, 4.7%, 4.3%, 4.7%, 4.0%, 3.7%, 4.1%, 3.8%, 3.5%, 3.6%, 3.3%, 2.9%, 2.9%, 2.8%,
3.1%, 2.6%, 2.6%, 2.5%, 1.7%, 1.0%, 1.5%, 1.5%, 2.8%, 1.7%, 0.9%, 1.7%, 1.5%, 1.1%, 1.4%
-- Month of August 2020 --
1.2%, 1.0%, 0.7%, 1.2%, 1.0%, 0.4%, 0.8%, 1.0%, 1.6%, 1.1%, 0.5%, 0.4%, 1.1%, 1.6%, 1.3%, 9.2%,
2.9%, 1.2% and now 0.6%

Increases (by count) since March 27, 2020 :
+64, +72, +49, +61, +82
-- Month of April 2020 --
+100, +100, +90, +94, +97. +43, +106, +63, +108, +105, +107, +79, +65, +89, +109,
+80, +124, +134, +104, +84, +90, +81, +80, +71, +75, +105, +91, +135, +112, +179
-- Month of May 2020 --
+187, +181, +234, +237, +253, +246, +251, +249, +250, +251, +253, +236, +243, +235, +199, +214,
+205, +224, +225, +186, +183, +204, +172, +178, +171, +190, +197, +202, +200, +219, +228
-- Month of June 2020 --
+228, +257, +239, +285, +298, +289, +263, +254, +298, +300, +312, +328, +345, +302, +305,
+306, +413, +392, +394, +395, +408, +454, +445, +391, +403, +496, +561, +570, +572, +601
-- Month of July 2020 --
+544, +708, +1,085, +1,103, +1,062, +1,214, +1,077, +1,029, +1,201, +1,164, +1,101, +1,174, +1,114, +1,000, +1,055, +1,027,
+1,195, +1,031, +1,044, +1,026, +734, +413, +648, +659, +1,267, +800, +426, +789, +704, +537, +707
-- Month of August 2020 --
+614, +518, +382, +641, +508, +230, +422, +540, +843, +581, +298, +234, +641, +885, +754, +5,361,
+1,850, +787 and now +399

DALLAS -- As of 1:00pm August 19, 2020, Dallas County Health and Human Services is reporting 399 additional confirmed cases of 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19), bringing the total confirmed case count in Dallas County to 66,464, including 843 confirmed deaths. The total probable case count in Dallas is 2,530, including 8 probable deaths from COVID-19. Of the 399 new cases we are reporting today, 44 came through the Texas Department of State Health Services’ (DSHS) electronic laboratory reporting system. Please see a provisional breakdown below of these newly reported cases by date of collection:

April: 16
May: 26
June: 2

The additional 5 deaths being reported today include the following 4 confirmed and 1 probable deaths:

A woman in her 40’s who was a resident of the City of DeSoto. She had been critically ill in an area hospital, and had underlying high risk health conditions.
A man in his 70’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He had been critically ill in an area hospital, and did not have underlying high risk health conditions.
A woman in her 70’s who was a resident of the City of DeSoto. She had been critically ill in an area hospital, and had underlying high risk health conditions.
A man in his 80’s who was a resident of the City of Dallas. He had been critically ill in an area hospital, and did not have underlying high risk health conditions.
A woman in her 80’s who was a resident of the City of DeSoto. She had been critically ill in an area hospital, and had underlying high risk health conditions.

From August 6 to 14th, 227 school-aged children between 5 to 18 years of age were reported to have been diagnosed with confirmed COVID-19. Over 3,549 children under 18 years of age have been diagnosed with confirmed COVID-19 since July 1st, including 66 children who have been hospitalized for COVID-19.

Of all confirmed cases requiring hospitalization to date, more than two-thirds have been under 65 years of age. Diabetes has been an underlying high-risk health condition reported in about a third of all hospitalized patients with COVID-19. The 7-day average daily new confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases (by date of test collection) for CDC week 32 was 398.

The percentage of respiratory specimens testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 has been declining but remains high, with about 14% of symptomatic patients presenting to area hospitals testing positive in week 32. Of the total confirmed deaths reported to date, about 26% have been associated with long-term care facilities.

 

[A1xLLcqAgt0qc2RyMz0y]

Texas as usual had screwed up test reporting and missed reporting cases when they were needed in a timely manner not two months late. Gov. Greg Abbott stood by the state’s data which again shows what an imbecile he is.

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/2020/08/19/heres-whats-behind-the-influx-of-backlogged-coronavirus-cases-across-texas/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Backlogged+cases+explained,+Collin+County+s+data+disclaimer,+restaurant+workers+seek+support&utm_campaign=CoronavirusUpdate_08192020&vgo_ee=QkDSBqd295qtG/07TPd4YqyPUFd7JHyq9acdSgULWaM=

Here’s what’s behind all those backlogged coronavirus cases across Texas

County health authorities across Texas are still sorting through a backlog of previously unreported coronavirus test results, shaking some local officials’ confidence in the numbers and leaving them to wonder whether they missed chances to slow the illness.

A statewide data dump led to giant daily case counts in some North Texas counties over the weekend, including Dallas County, where officials had to contend with more than 7,600 previously unknown positive cases in four days — the majority of them backlogged from June and July.

Because local health officials didn’t know about the cases until now, contact tracing hasn’t been done on them. That could have serious implications, said Dr. Matt Richardson, Denton County’s director of public health.

“We missed that opportunity because of the late report, which just allows the pandemic to grow,” he said. “That’s why we have a pandemic. We’ve missed opportunities for containment and unfortunately that was out of our control.”

Richardson said the county was uncomfortable with statewide data on tests and said it was frustrating that some “inherent flaws” with the state’s database are being exacerbated by the delays.

“That just renders it less valuable,” he said, adding that the data are still useful because they show what happened and provide demographic information.

The backlogged cases came to light after the state upgraded its reporting system Aug. 1 to better handle the high volume of daily test results.

Before the coronavirus pandemic, the state health department took in fewer than 2,000 lab test results a day for a long list of conditions including measles, meningitis and some STDs. But as COVID-19 testing expanded — and the state had to track positive and negative results — the tracking system couldn't keep up, said Lara Anton, a spokeswoman for the Department of State Health Services.

After the upgrade, which allowed the state to process more than 100,000 test results a day, the state cleared the backlog in the first week of August, Anton said.

But once those results were processed, the state spotted coding problems with test results the commercial Quest Diagnostics labs reported that prevented the state from importing its data.

That led to a backlog of 354,000 tests from Quest, Anton said.

Quest Diagnostics told KTVT-TV (Channel 11) that the state had changed servers without letting it know, so it didn’t realize its results weren’t being received.

Coding issues also led to problems getting data from CHRISTUS Meditech, a lab for several hospitals, which had a backlog of about 95,000 test results, and then a backlog of about 59,000 test results from Walgreens pharmacies, Anton said.

By Sunday, each of the backlogs was resolved and test results were available to counties, she said. Now, the case sorting is in the hands of county health officials, who will have to determine whether the results are for cases they previously knew about or whether they are new, Anton said.

“The perspective you need to have is that with COVID, there are hundreds of labs reporting now that were not previously reporting to public health,” she said. “For instance, Walgreens is not typically testing for infectious diseases, but for COVID, they’re doing testing. So they had a longer road ... to get set up to process the tests and then to have a report and then to get them into a format where they could send it to us.”

The backlogs didn't cause delays in notifying patients of their test results.

However, they could breed skepticism in the numbers for people who already doubts about them, said Timothy Bray, director of the Institute for Urban Policy Research at UT Dallas. And for people, including business owners and school leaders, who rely on local daily case counts among other data to make decisions about operating safely, they may feel they’re “flying blind,” Bray said.

Collin County officials haven’t specified how many of their cases were part of the backlog, but after reporting more than 1,100 cases Friday and none Sunday, officials warned residents they had “no confidence” in the state’s data in a message posted on the county’s dashboard Tuesday.

“The Commissioners Court is 100% certain that the COVID-19 data being reported for Collin County is inaccurate,” Collin County Judge Chris Hill wrote on Facebook.

Anton, the State Health Services Department spokeswoman, said that since Collin County chose to have the state take over its case management in June, the state “has been providing the most complete data available each day.”

“As with all COVID-19 data, it is subject to change as more information comes in,” she said.

”We used a very robust system team that came in, that corrected all of the data metrics and now we have good accurate information flow,” he said. “There may be still another day or two while that information is leveled out. But by the time this week ends, we should have pretty accurate data.”

Gov. Greg Abbott stood by the state’s data in an interview Wednesday with KXAS-TV (NBC 5).

He also stressed that the backlog issue affected only test result data.

”The most important and accurate information that exists is the information about the people who are hospitalized because of COVID-19. That information has never been questioned,” the governor told KXAS. “That information is both the most accurate, and the most important information that we have.”

Gaps in understanding

In Dallas County, officials indicated that most of the more than 7,600 previously unknown cases came from tests done in July.

In Tarrant County, health officials said many of the 1,487 cases it reported Saturday were part of the backlog.

Within the last five days, Denton County received more than 7,000 previously unreported test results, and 893 were positive. Some of the lab results were performed a few days ago, but some come from May and June, officials said.

Richardson, Denton County’s public health director, said the county is investigating the backlogged cases to see whether there are duplicates and having contact tracers verify them.

He said the backlogged cases will be added to new daily case counts after they’re investigated and designated as active or recovered cases.

Candy Blair, Collin County’s public health director, said officials noticed the problem when they saw a sudden spike in the data last week. They reported 1,175 new cases Aug. 14 — nearly 10 times the daily average in cases.

Public health directors in the region asked the state about the problem, and that’s when they learned about the backlog, she said.

Now she wants to make sure people understand that cases haven’t spiked suddenly.

“You don’t want them to panic,” she said. “That’s the last thing we want to do is to look like our numbers have quadrupled or are 10 times the amount that they normally are.”

Officials in other counties also expressed a need for calm.

“People need to be patient and understanding,” Tarrant County public health director Vinny Taneja said at Tuesday’s county commissioners court. “We are worried that what we don’t know might come back and bite us, and … [the backlog is] a prime example of things that have gone on and we had no idea that this was an issue.”