MADISON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The Wisconsin Department of Health Services is increasing efforts to “clean up” coronavirus infection and death statistics.
DHS says declining case numbers are allowing employees to shift their focus to reviewing current and past data to make sure it is accurate and complete, and merging duplicate records.
DHS says the revisions are similar to annual data cleanup that is done with other communicable diseases. Earlier this week, health officials said they were “woefully behind” on data cleanup from the current pandemic.
Some of the results include correcting about 3,000 confirmed cases to probable, and about 800 non-confirmed cases to confirmed over the past several weeks. Confirmed cases require a positive PCR test, while those with positive rapid antigen tests are listed as probable. DHS says numbers will show a net decrease of 2,200 confirmed cases, though public health recommendations are the same in each case. Some counties may also show lower or even negative net numbers as data is update.
DHS is also doing quality assurance on charts showing confirmed cases and deaths by group housing setting. That includes matching addresses to long-term care and other congregate living facilities to reduce the number of “unknowns.” As a result, the number of deaths with unknown group housing setting was reduced from 46% to 26%. Overall case and death numbers are not affected.
For the most accurate numbers, DHS recommends looking at charts of confirmed and probable cases by date of onset or diagnoses (with 7-day averages) and deaths by date of death.
