COLUMBUS — Ohio has not been able to report daily cases on time this week due to a mounting backlog of 12,000 antigen test results the state wants to double check before reporting.

What You Need To Know

  • Antigen testing has slowed down the state's reporting

  • The state is "double checking" test results causing delays

  • About 12,000 cases are in the backlog, DeWine said​

Gov. Mike DeWine said Thursday the expanding availability of antigen testing in Ohio puts new burden on overwhelmed local health department staff. He said Ohio “made a decision to double check these,” which means making a phone call to confirm the results. As case numbers in the state have skyrocketed, health departments have become overworked trying to complete the growing task-lists in front of them. 

With more antigen testing now occurring in Ohio, at the same time as the surge of cases, this backlog has formed.

"Nothing is actually confirmed until they do fact checking,” DeWine said.  

 

 

Most states are not waiting to input antigen testing numbers into case reports while this double-checking takes place, the governor said, noting that it is a very time consuming process. 

“On Monday, we got to the point where we were not clearing every one of these tests everyday,” he added.

The state now has asterisks around its case numbers until the backlog is cleared.

DeWine said there are 12,000 antigen tests spanning the last three days that have not been checked.

Typically the tests remain positive after the confirmation process is complete, he said. 

DeWine said the state does not have sufficient staffing to check the tests on time, but noted the state is working to do better.

Cleveland Department of Public Health had to delay Monday's COVID-19 data after experiencing an "unprecedented surge" of cases.

The governor first addressed the matter Wednesday during a number of press stops around the state. At a Columbus airfield, the governor said he had just been briefed on the matter by his staff and described the situation as “technical problems.”

The state health department updated its COVID-19 numbers late Wednesday, but bright red letters about the trends said “today’s data is incomplete; thousands of reports are pending review.”

Incomplete case numbers Thursday showed 7,787 cases had been reported in the last 24 hours. The report showed an increased of 343 hospitalized patients and 63 new COVID-19 deaths. 

As of Thursday, 3,829 patients were hospitalized with coronavirus, while 943 were receiving care in ICU beds and 479 people were on ventilators.

A statewide curfew goes into effect Thursday that will require all retail stores and restaurants to close in-person or in-store service from the hours of 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Police could stop groups for gathering in public areas like parks during the curfew. Residents will be allowed to go on walks or order drive-thru and delivery food after the curfew sets in.

Franklin County became the first county in the state to enter the “purple” designation on Thursday, which indicates a crisis situation in which the spread of the virus is accelerating rapidly. This was the first week there was not a single yellow county in the state.

Lake, Lorain, and Montgomery Counties are on the watch list to go purple if they continue to meet as many indicators as Franklin for a second week.

Commissioner Duane Stansbury of the Warren County Health District said they were made aware of the problem with reporting this week's case numbers only upon seeing the message on the state's website.

"ODH did not inform us about this nor have they provided any information about the cause of the issue nor when it will be corrected," Stansbury said.

As of 2 p.m. Thursday, local health departments had yet to be briefed on the matter. Three health departments said they were struggling to keep up with the demands of the case surge, but with their staff working on overdrive they had submitted case numbers on time. 

"We have not been briefed by the state regarding this," said Dr. Maureen Ahmann, medical director at the Stark County Health Department. "Numbers on the dash board only reflect our ability to get them uploaded.  With this recent surge, it has been difficult to have an instant turn around with data entry because the cases are coming in too quickly."