California Coronavirus Update: Top Health Official Reveals State Has Been Underreporting New COVID-19 Cases; County Numbers Also Have “Discrepancies” - Deadline

On Tuesday, an unusual message was posted on the California state COVID-19 dashboard.

It read, “Due to the issues with the state’s electronic laboratory system, these data represent an underreporting of actual positive cases in one single day.” There was no further information or clarification.

“Over the past few days — the state system — we’ve discovered some discrepancies,” said Ghaly.

California’s daily case count numbers have plummeted from a recent high of 9,032 on August 1 — the day local officials were informed of the issue — to 5,719 on Monday.

And it’s not just the state numbers that have been impacted.

“Many counties depend upon the state’s information to keep their own data up to date,” said Ghaly.

“Many public health officials and public health offices that depend on the state’s data over the past few days have seen a drop in case numbers.

The State has determined under reporting of COVID-19 cases due to technology issues with the electronic laboratory system (ELR).

Public Health learned of new issues with the State ELR feed on an emergency call convened by the State last night.

This issue has undercounted the County’s positive cases and affects the number of COVID-19 cases reported each day and our contact tracing efforts.

County public health officials also said they have flagged irregularities to the state for the past 2 weeks and are now pursuing “an independent strategy to obtain accurate data.”.

Riverside County’s positive cases in recent days may appear that the numbers are holding steady or flattening, but that’s simply not true, said Public Health Director Kim Saruwatari.

These data challenges on case numbers do not have overlap with hospitalization and ICU data, he said

The state reported 4,526 new cases on Tuesday and 113 new deaths