Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Delays In Reporting Negative COVID Tests Impact Virus Data in Wis.
Some county health departments are behind in processing and reporting thousands of negative coronavirus tests, which could distort some daily virus data reported by the state. Local health officials are experiencing backlogs in processing negative tests, which pushed Dane County this week not to calculate its percentage of positive tests — a data point the public uses to determine how intense infection is in an area. (Beck and Heim, 7/23)
People in Massachusetts may be able to get a coronavirus test, but it could take them a while to learn the results. According to health care providers, a recent increase in demand has caused some tests to take more than a week to process. (Becker, 7/24)
Nearly four months after the pandemic’s peak, New York City is facing such serious delays in returning coronavirus test results that public health experts are warning that the problems could hinder efforts to reopen the local economy and schools. Despite repeated pledges from Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio that testing would be both widely accessible and effective, thousands of New Yorkers have had to wait a week or more for results, and at some clinics the median wait time is nine days. One prominent local official has even proposed the drastic step of limiting testing. (Goldstein and McKinley, 7/23)
University Medical Center is reversing course by asking members of the public without COVID-19 symptoms or exposure to a confirmed case of the disease not to make an appointment at one of its large drive-thru testing sites. (Hynes, 7/23)
