An
investigation, ordered by Gov. Jim Justice last week after the number of active
COVID-19 cases in Randolph County were found to be much lower than shown on the West Virginia
Department of Health and Human Resources’ (DHHR) COVID-19
dashboard, has found that the DHHR electronic case surveillance system was
not updated with recovered case data from the local health departments and that
DHHR did not follow up with local health departments to routinely verify
recovered cases of COVID-19.
Recovered
cases are determined by the local health departments as they follow individuals
who have tested positive for COVID-19. The error in the numbers of
recovered individuals on the COVID-19 dashboard was discovered by the West
Virginia National Guard which contacted the Randolph County Health Department
to verify the numbers. These cases, which had not been entered into the
electronic case surveillance system as recovered, were cases from the
Huttonsville Correctional Facility outbreak several weeks ago.
This week, DHHR’s Office of Epidemiology and Prevention
Services and the West Virginia National Guard contacted each local health
department to verify the numbers and have compared them to those in the
electronic case surveillance system which is updated to the COVID-19 dashboard.
This follow-up has found that many local health departments are behind on
clearing these active cases, and that although the DHHR noticed this
discrepancy, nothing was done to correct the issue sooner.
“DHHR has made every effort to be completely transparent in
the reporting of any data related to this pandemic and will
continue to acknowledge any errors and discrepancies in the future and fix
them as quickly as possible,” said Bill J. Crouch, DHHR Cabinet Secretary.
“We appreciate our partnership with the West Virginia National Guard as
well as the local health departments. A system will be put in place to
routinely verify data in the future to prevent this from ever happening
again. Governor Justice has demanded this of us, and the public deserves
it.”
Local health departments are in the process of updating
these numbers and we expect a final completion date of July 3, 2020 or sooner.
“Should any local health departments need assistance in this
effort, DHHR is happy to provide any assistance we can, including requests to
have the National Guard assist in this effort,” added Crouch. “We
recognize we need to support our local partners more and provide more
assistance to them as we move forward. They are doing an unbelievable job
under extremely difficult circumstances.”