If you’re someone who likes to do a daily check on the local spread of the coronavirus, get ready for one more way COVI-19 will change your life.
Citing a change in protocol by labs that run the tests, the county announced Friday afternoon it is suspending the weekend reports that have been a standard since the pandemic hit in March.
“We’ve been informed that labs handling COVID-19 tests will no longer be sending our department updated cases on the weekends,” said Hays County Epidemiologist Eric Schneider. “With the few cases we receive directly from health care providers, we believe releasing weekend numbers would make our positive cases look artificially low. Therefore, our Monday reports will reflect any numbers reported to the Local Health Department over the weekend.”
Schneider is concerned that the public will mistake the low numbers for a decrease in positive cases, which could cause some people to stop wearing masks and social distancing.
“The virus is still alive and well in Hays County,” he said. “We are still strongly urging everyone to continue to engage in safe practices that will help us slow the spread of COVID-19.”
Among those practices are frequent hand washing, wearing masks and staying at least six feet away from others in public spaces.
The County will continue to share weekday updates Monday-Friday. The Dashboard on the County’s COVID web page will be updated Monday-Friday.
“We’ve been informed that labs handling COVID-19 tests will no longer be sending our department updated cases on the weekends,” said Hays County Epidemiologist Eric Schneider. “With the few cases we receive directly from health care providers, we believe releasing weekend numbers would make our positive cases look artificially low. Therefore, our Monday reports will reflect any numbers reported to the Local Health Department over the weekend.”
Schneider is concerned that the public will mistake the low numbers for a decrease in positive cases, which could cause some people to stop wearing masks and social distancing.
“The virus is still alive and well in Hays County,” he said. “We are still strongly urging everyone to continue to engage in safe practices that will help us slow the spread of COVID-19.”
Among those practices are frequent hand washing, wearing masks and staying at least six feet away from others in public spaces.
The County will continue to share weekday updates Monday-Friday. The Dashboard on the County’s COVID web page will be updated Monday-Friday.
A COVID-19 Fact Sheet has been added to the County website: https://hayscountytx.com/covid-19-fact-sheet/. This document provides a glossary of terms and insight into methods and results calculations.
