ROCKINGHAM — The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services announced Wednesday that “a discrepancy between electronic and manual reporting of testing data” from LabCorp Diagnostics resulted in a fewer number of COVID-19 tests performed.
According to DHHS, the error reduced the count of cumulative tests performed from 2,044,727 to 1,823,283.
“Last week, NCDHHS informed us they had identified an inconsistency across LabCorp data submissions, which are provided to the state through both an electronic reporting system that is established through state regulations and a separate manual process as requested by NCDHHS,” said Brian Caveney, chief medical officer and president of LabCorp Diagnostics. “We determined that from late April until last week, Pixel by LabCorp at-home test collection kits that originated out-of-state but were processed in North Carolina were inadvertently included in the manual data submission to the state. We quickly corrected the issue and provided the updated manual reports to NCDHHS. LabCorp’s daily electronically reported data was accurate and unaffected by the error, and this issue does not affect other states or any results reported to patients or their providers.”
State health officials say the reporting error from LabCorp does not affect key metrics — including new positive cases and percent of tests that are positive — monitored by the state.
NCDHHS Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen said transmissions of COVID-19 appear to have stabilized over the past few weeks.
“NCDHHS is committed to data transparency and data accuracy as part of our COVID-19 response. The department is continually improving our data systems and engaging in regular quality control measures and is transparent when errors are detected,” Secretary Cohen said. “We will continue to work closely with our many partners who submit data to us to help track this pandemic, including hospitals, laboratories, local health departments and many others.”
CURRENT NUMBERS
After dropping to only 65 active cases on Aug. 7, that number has risen back to 91, the Richmond County Health Department reported on Thursday, Aug. 13.
There have been 39 new cases in the past four days — nine more than the previous full week — with 13 new cases reported Thursday, six on Wednesday, 11 on Tuesday and nine on Monday. The county’s total of positive COVID-19 cases now stands at 551. (The state only reported 534 on Thursday.)
According to the county, 5,575 of those tested have received a negative result.
There have only been four additional recoveries, for a total of 451, since the RO last reported statistics on Monday.
After seeing a dramatic drop in daily cases on Monday, the state has seen another spike, with new cases rising from 626 to 1,763. The statewide total of lab-confirmed positive cases since testing began is now at 140,824.
There are currently 1,070 patients hospitalized with the coronavirus, including two from Richmond County. There are 89 local patients under home isolation.
DHHS reports 2,287 deaths across the state — including nine in Richmond County and 20 in Moore — have been attributed to COVID-19.
BY THE NUMBERS
The number of local cases per age group are as follows:
- 0-18 – 66
- 19-30 – 88
- 31-40 – 84
- 41-50 – 105
- 50-64 – 127
- 65-older – 81
The number of cases per ZIP code are as follows:
- Rockingham – 317 (264 recovered)
- Hamlet – 137 (116 recovered)
- Ellerbe – 64 (46 recovered)
- Hoffman – 25 (19 recovered)
- Mount Gilead – 7 (6 recovered)
- Marston – 1
DHHS reports that nearly 40 of the state’s 100 counties that have now experienced more than 1,000 total cases: Alamance, Brunswick, Burke, Buncombe, Cabarrus, Caldwell, Catawba, Chatham, Cleveland, Cumberland, Davidson, Duplin, Durham, Forsyth, Gaston, Granville, Guilford, Harnett, Henderson, Iredell, Johnston, Lee, Mecklenburg, Moore, Nash, New Hanover, Onlsow, Orange, Pitt, Randolph, Rowan, Robeson, Sampson, Stanly, Union, Wake, Wayne and Wilson.
Graham County remains having the state’s fewest number of cases with 44. Madison, also in the west and Hyde in the eastern part of the state, are tied for the second-fewest number of cases at 48. Gates County, with 49, is the only other county with fewer than 70 total cases.
The total numbers (including recoveries) for surrounding counties are as follows:
- Mecklenburg -22,803 (the only other county to top 10,000 is Wake with 12,406)
- Union – 3,222
- Stanly – 1,171
- Montgomery – 659
- Anson – 358
- Moore – 1,055 (131 active)
- Hoke – 761
- Scotland – 388
- Robeson – 2,856
All numbers are from DHHS except Moore, which are from the local health department, as there has been a discrepancy with the state .
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control is reporting 801 cases in Chesterfield County and 529 in Marlboro County.
