The question was asked last evening, and today Wyoming County Public Health Administrator Laura Paolucci explained the discrepancy.
The issue was apparent in March, when Wyoming County was reported to have their first positive case of COVID-19 in the State system. Paolucci says this first reported case was actually not from Wyoming County, but Monroe County.
The case was entered into the NYS Electronic Clinical Laboratory Reporting System by a lab. There are about 300 labs in NYS, but some healthcare providers use out of state labs.
According to the NYS DOH, The Electronic Clinical Laboratory Reporting System (ECLRS) provides laboratories that serve New York State with a single electronic system for secure and rapid transmission of reportable disease information to the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) and county health departments.
Paolucci says the Wyoming County Health Department now checks each address that is entered into the ECLRS System to avoid any discrepancy with positive/negative cases.
“The discrepancy is like a moving target,” says Paolucci.
“It took me some time to figure it out. When cases are being assigned to the incorrect county, the receiving county has to understand we are going to look at the address and move them off our dashboard or on our dashboard.”Â
Paolucci says the error can swing both ways.
Wyoming County is also including facility cases from nursing homes, the jail and correctional facilities in their numbers. About 15% of the positive cases in Wyoming County are facility related, about 85% are community related, says Paolucci
There are currently 84 lab confirmed positive cases in Wyoming County, the NYS COVID-19 Tracker lists 91 confirmed positive cases.
Wyoming County Chairman Jerry Davis says the County has tried to correct their numbers with the state.
“We gave up trying to have the State correct their numbers,” says Davis.
Davis says the numbers have been incorrect for a month or more.
Paolucci says what is most important now is having more tests on demand, a reasonable sample size and watching the testing value.
“I like to know that people have access and can be tested if they choose to, I feel good about access to tests.”