I’m sure none of this is important.
The government’s official data on the coronavirus outbreak is startling: More than 4.6 million cases in the U.S. More than 440,000 in Texas. More than 70,000 in Harris County.
But those numbers don’t include all positive COVID-19 patients.
Texas, unlike 27 other states, excludes the results of increasingly popular, rapid COVID-19 tests from the numbers it reports publicly — obscuring the scope of the pandemic, records and interviews show. The antigen tests are used in doctor’s offices, hospitals and stand-alone clinics and deliver results in less than 30 minutes.
But conflicting guidance from the Texas Department of State Health Services created confusion among local health departments about what test results to report. A reliance on faxed test results has created a paper backlog that makes it impossible for the state to do its own tally.
And while there is no way to independently estimate the scope of the undercount, based on the 11 Texas counties that publish antigen tests results separately of their own accord, the state’s tally is short by at least tens of thousands of cases — but likely far more, a Houston Chronicle analysis found.
And the undercount is about to get worse. The federal government is rolling out a program to use thousands of antigen tests in nursing homes across the country — including Texas.
State Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin, who serves as vice-chair of the House committee that oversees the state’s public health agencies, said the lack of reliable data is hindering the overall COVID-19 response effort in Texas.
“The only way people will be inspired to act right without government mandates is if they have the information they need to make smart choices,” Hinojosa told the Chronicle. “And that has been just impossible to come by.”
The problem, apparently, is that the state considers a positive antigen test to be a “probable” positive for COVID-19, not a definite positive. I mean, I figure a couple of data geeks could work out a decent solution for this in less than a day’s work, so color me baffled by the confusion here. And if you’re confused for other reasons, please note that antigen tests are different from antibody tests, which determine if you have had COVID-19 in the past, and thus should be in a separate category. It would be nice if we could get this all straightened out. The Trib has more.