COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) says a recent change in the COVID-19 case numbers in the state can be attributed to a system glitch.
On August 26, there were 424 reported cases of COVID-19 and the percent positive was 8.1%. Those would have been the state's lowest numbers since the beginning of June.
However, a day later, DHEC's testing data graph changed, with the number of daily COVID-19 cases for August 26 upping to 823 cases with a percent positive rate of 15.7%.
DHEC said the change in cases and percent positivity for the day in question can be attributed to a "system glitch likely related to the timing of a system update." DHEC said that caused some of the cases to not be initially included in the case reports for the day.
In a statement from DHEC, the agency said, "While infrequent, anytime the agency discovers new information we correct the historical data for accuracy. We continue to put data quality assurance measures in place to lessen issues that could affect our data reporting."
DHEC relies on a network of independent labs across the state to give them data on how many tests are run.
The agency is also trying to reporting procedures to correct issues from incomplete information. The agency says they remain committed to providing complete and reliable COVID test results for the public.
On Saturday, the agency updated it's List of Reportable Conditions that specifies all test results, positive and negative, should be reported to DHEC within 24 hours.
DHEC said they will notify physicians and laboratories of this update by issuing a health alert network update and using additional listservs.
When testing began in March, private labs were not required to report negative results. By March 26, according to DHEC, these results from private labs began to be a part of the daily reports.
On April 22, DHEC issued a Health Alert Network making COVID-19 an urgently reportable condition, meaning physicians and laboratories are required to report results to DHEC within 24 hours of the result being available.
