CLEVELAND-- As COVID-19 continues to rip through the nation, more people are taking at-home tests, and not everyone is reporting the results to their local health department. 

What You Need To Know

  • Residents in Cuyahoga County are not required to report positive results from at-home COVID tests to the health department

  • The Cuyahoga County health commissioner says the actual number of positive cases could be 25-30% higher

  • The health commissioner encourages people to report their results so the county can accurately track cases

In Cuyahoga County, residents are not required to report a positive test result to the health department. That could mean the number of actual COVID-19 cases in the county is higher than the county's figures show. Cuyahoga County Health Commissioner Terry Allan said the county has taken into consideration that actual cases may be higher than the number of reported cases and that's one reason why they track hospitalization numbers.

"No question about that. It could be 25%, 30% higher. There are also a lot of people who may have very mild illness, that may be asymptomatic and of course, they may not even get tested," said Allan.

Allan said it is recommended that people who test positive at home report it to the health department. He also said if you are feeling ill,​ do not go to work and follow the CDC guidelines for quarantining.​

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