WASHINGTON CO. JIC NOTES DISCREPANCIES IN COUNTY, STATE COVID-19 DATA

  

Washington County health officials are working on finding the reason for some large differences in COVID-19 data reported by the county versus what is reported by the state.

The county’s latest case count, updated Monday, indicates there are 400 positive cases of COVID-19 in the county, with 185 active cases, 181 recoveries, and 34 deaths.  However, while the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) does report the same amount of deaths as of Tuesday, it also reports the positive case count sits at 396, with only 92 active cases and 262 recoveries.

Michael Oberhelman, one of the EMS officials involved in handling coronavirus data for the Washington County Joint Information Center (JIC), said the information shown on the statewide COVID-19 dashboard is from the DSHS office in Austin.  Meanwhile, the county gets its numbers from the DSHS Public Health Region 7 headquarters in Temple, which serves a 30 county area in Central Texas.

Oberhelman said the county has reached out multiple times since June about the discrepancy in numbers that the county is seeing, but the state has not been able to provide a reason behind the “drastic difference” in data, particularly in recoveries.  He said, as of now, the county can only report what information is given to it from Public Health Region 7.

Oberhelman said the inconsistency has caused a “fair amount of confusion”, which is why the county has been attempting to determine the reason behind the differences in numbers in order to provide the public with the most accurate information possible.  He said he will pass along further information as soon as the county hears an update on “closing the gap on these numbers”.