VA Health Dept. Statement On Increase In COVID-19 Testing Data

Press release from the City of Fairfax:

June 9 2020

Starting on June 9, the Virginia Department of Health’s (VDH) COVID-19 data dashboard will reflect 13,000 additional tests that were backlogged. Over the next couple of days, this new information will be slowly added to the current data, which will result in an influx of results.

A Richmond area laboratory had previously been providing test results via fax, which had to be entered manually by VDH staff, contributing to the backlog. VDH staff had prioritized positive test results, which means the remaining backlog largely includes negative tests. The lab is now submitting test results electronically.

This change alleviates by half the reporting backlog of test results. VDH continues to work to eliminate that backlog.

This press release was produced by the City of Fairfax. The views expressed here are the author’s own.