That of cases through the Pennsylvania Department of Health as positive cases with at home COVID-19 tests are not being reported to the states, and other questions that arise are how
do officials keep track of the trends? And what about school leaders who are depending on the trends to make decisions on district schedules?
Samantha York reports.
“It adds another layer of complexity for our school leaders. On top of an already overworked and exhausted staff”
Many school districts are using the state dashboard to watch transmission rates in the region.
“You’re trying to make these decisions based on the best information you have and in the balance you have the understanding and knowing that the best thing for kids is to have them in
school learning from their teachers. And by the same token, how do you balance that with keeping them safe health wise?”
But not all tests are being reported.
“Last year, we miss people who just couldn’t get a test.This year, we’re missing people that probably get home tests.”
The Department of Health’s COVID-19 dashboard illustrates over 18,000 cases of COVID-19 as of Monday. Those positive results coming from over 46,000 tests reported to the state.
“We’re watching those dashboards very carefully because it’s still a sustained high level in Cumberland County,”
The state reports case counts based off PCR tests going through official labs. The discrepancy here is people testing positive. Using at home tests aren’t being factored in if they’re
not reporting it to the state.
“The numbers that we are reporting are woefully under reported because of those who aren’t monitoring themselves.”
The Department of Health says in a statement to CBS 21 News. While at home test results may not be included in the department’s data, there is an abundance of other PCR and antigen
test results being reported from traditional testing channels.
Therefore, we have a large sample to maintain reporting COVID-19 incidence rates and trends.
“One of the things that we kind of have to transition to doing is not just looking at the total number of cases, but starting to look at the total number of hospitalizations and the
total number of deaths.”
