Austin, Texas, COVID-19 dashboard doesn't report all COVID-19 positive tests as cases spike

The Austin (Texas) Public Health COVID-19 dashboard is not reporting all COVID-19 cases, which has blocked a full picture of the outbreak in the city, according to a news report from KXAN, the local NBC affiliate.

The dashboard does not report positive COVID-19 tests for patients who test positive after entering the hospital. Austin-Travis County Interim Health Authority Mark Escott, MD, said the agency is working on determining the accuracy of the data and aims to update the dashboard in the future, although he did not give a timeline for the update.

KXAN reported there are about 10 uncounted admissions per day. If those admissions are added to the reported COVID-19 hospitalizations, the city would be in the next tier of seven-day moving average hospitalizations that could trigger a new level of restrictions.

Large hospitals in the area would not provide data on the number of COVID-19 admissions, occupied beds and intensive care unit beds to KXAN, which noted that there have been discrepancies in the data since mid-June. In the past few weeks, Austin Mayor Steve Adler said his team began using a new reporting process and brought in new people to work on the dashboard and respond to the data.

More articles on data analytics:
US management of coronavirus data is 'not as robust as it should be,' CMS chief says
San Diego can't keep up with contact tracing efforts during surge
Florida health department COVID-19 data has inconsistencies: 7 details