HAYS COUNTY – The active COVID-19 case counts for Hays County will look a little different in the update for Oct 38 and moving forward, according to the epidemiology team at the Hays County Local Health Department.
Following a week-long internal review of COVID cases, the team found active case counts that were incorrect. While the change that will be reflected in the update impacts all areas of the county, the cities of San Marcos and Kyle will see more variability.
“Our data review showed San Marcos has 29 active cases just in the past 21 days, yet we received reports about 117 new COVID-19 cases in October,” Epidemiologist Eric Schneider said. “At that point, we knew not all of those had been cleared yet, so we continued digging into the data.”
He said the San Marcos active case counts will increase. Conversely, Kyle’s active cases will go down.
Schneider said there are several reasons for the need to make these edits, including new statewide reporting protocols, shifts in how data is shared with local health departments and human error.
Epidemiologist Greggory Drew said the numbers will continue to change as data is made available to the health department team.
“We actively review and evaluate the data we are provided, but due to the errors in reporting from testing facilities we are correcting data as it comes to the health department,” he said.
Health Department Director Tammy Crumley said the internal review is just one of many regular audits conducted on the data.
“Since the pandemic began, we’ve been improving our processes and data reporting protocols as we evolve and new information comes to light,” she said.
