Volume of coronavirus test results strains Washington’s data reporting system; fix in works
The state’s reporting system is showing signs of strain weeks into the coronavirus outbreak.
On Monday, the state’s Department of Health website did not provide updated totals for confirmed cases for the day, with data from March 28 lingering on the site into Tuesday afternoon as well.
Pierce County’s own health department also ran into reporting issues, with no breakout information city-by-city provided on Monday.
The county site offered updated figures on Tuesday, except for testing totals, but it noted that testing was still proceeding “uninterrupted” despite the reporting lag.
On Tuesday, the state Department of Health issued an update, saying it was seeking solutions to its reporting data woes.
“We are working to ensure daily numbers are posted on time,” it wrote “Here’s some context about recent challenges:
“The Washington Disease Reporting System (WDRS) is used to report notifiable conditions. Outside a pandemic, only positive results would be reported. WDRS is now tracking negative results for COVID-19. This volume is overwhelming the tool.”
It added, “We have worked with the vendor supporting WDRS to increase capacity. We are also investigating additional solutions, which may include: a separate reporting tool for negative results (roughly 93% of the data at this time); automating deduplication work performed manually each day.”
“Deduplication” refers to removing redundant data.
The state noted, “One day last week, more than 2,000 duplicate results were removed to ensure accurate, reliable numbers.”
The department added, “We cannot provide an estimate for the next release of numbers but are working diligently toward that goal.”
The state also has made other data points available, including “visualizations showing confirmed cases, the epidemiological curve, cumulative case and death counts, testing numbers, and demographic information. Also coming soon is hospitalization data.”
The state said it is working with Microsoft “to optimize the user experience for this data, including for those without a high-speed connection or those working from a mobile device.”
On Tuesday, the state still showed case numbers at 4,896 with 195 deaths, the latest data from March 28.
Coronavirus case reporting has not been consistent even county by county, with some giving more details and contact tracing information than others. Over the past week, some counties have changed reporting methods to match the state’s.
This story was originally published March 31, 2020 at 4:01 PM.
