Health Department Changing Method For Calculating COVID Cases

The State Health Department is changing how it calculates the daily average of COVID-19 cases. It will result in a lower number being reported, but the health department says it will give a better look at the current state of the virus.

State Health Department officials say the new methodology is based on when a COVID test is taken and results are given to the state.

From now on, seven-day rolling averages will only represent COVID tests that are taken and reported to the state within the same week. Lab results that come in from tests taken weeks or months ago won't count.

For example, this week's report shows an average of 95 cases a day, when it would have been more than 300 under the old system.

"As with all attempts to report real-time COVID data, there is no perfect system. However, this method is a much closer approximation of the current reality," Erica Rankin with the State Health Department said.

Officials at the State Health Department want to remind folks that even though some cases won't be reported in the weekly average, they will all be added to the cumulative total.