The Delaware Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) has confirmed that it is reporting both positive and negative test results of coronavirus testing to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, despite not making that information available to the public.
“Yes, we are reporting both positive and negative results to the CDC,” a spokesperson said in an email to The Michigan Star on Wednesday. “We absolutely understand the interest in knowing the number of negative test results received, as well as the number of positives.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is requiring states to provide “aggregated data on testing and results from State and local public health departments,” per Section 1702 of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. Aggregated data includes both positive and negative test results, according to The Star’s interpretation.
Delaware is currently reporting the number of positive cases by county on its coronavirus-dedicated website. There are currently 115 confirmed positive cases in the state and zero deaths, according to the DDH. It last reported negative cases on March 13, according to data from COVID Tracking Project.
A spokesperson for the department said it is hesitant to make the number of negative cases public.
“We have had some issues with getting test results back that included negative results,” said the spokesperson in an email to The Michigan Star. “We are currently working through those issues and we anticipate being able to release those to the public in the near future. We need to be confident that the numbers reported are accurate, but due to the delay in reporting we are not at a point to release those now.”
As of Wednesday, there are more than 54,000 confirmed positive cases of the coronavirus in the United States, according to reports from the CDC. The death toll is at 737.
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Jordyn Pair is a reporter with The Michigan Star. Follow her on Twitter at @JordynPair. Email her at [email protected].
Photo “Delaware Department of Health in the Field” by Delaware Department of Health and Social Services.
