Hays County suspends weekend COVID-19 updates

HAYS COUNTY, Texas - Hays County is suspending weekend COVID-19 updates due to a policy change in how labs report positive cases.

“We’ve been informed that labs handling COVID-19 tests will no longer be sending our department updated cases on the weekends,” said Hays County Epidemiologist Eric Schneider. “With the few cases we receive directly from health care providers, we believe releasing weekend numbers would make our positive cases look artificially low. Therefore, our Monday reports will reflect any numbers reported to the Local Health Department over the weekend.”

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Health officials say the county is worried that the public will mistake the low numbers for a decrease in positive cases, which could cause some people to stop wearing masks and social distancing.

“The virus is still alive and well in Hays County,” Schneider said. “We are still strongly urging everyone to continue to engage in safe practices that will help us slow the spread of COVID-19.”

Earlier this week, the Trump administration ordered hospitals to begin sending coronavirus patient information directly to the Department of Health and Human Services, bypassing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The move has drawn criticism from some public health experts, who say the White House has been politicizing science and sidelining the CDC in its response to the pandemic.

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Hospitals previously reported to the CDC's National Healthcare Safety Network, described by the agency as “the nation’s most widely used healthcare-associated infection tracking system.” The CDC is one of 11 divisions under the HHS, and has historically handled this sort of data.

The Trump administration claims the goal is to streamline data and help the White House Coronavirus Task Force with distributing scarce supplies and treatment.

The county will continue to share weekday updates Monday-Friday while also updating the county's COVID-19 dashboard.

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