Good Question: How useful are reports on COVID-19 numbers?

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - Every week, we give updates about current COVID-19 numbers, but how useful is that information? That’s the subject of today’s Good Question.

Angela asks, How can you report COVID cases when people are testing at home instead of a facility where it can be counted? Or self-medicating until it passes.

She goes on to question if the numbers being reported are accurate because there’s no way to include those numbers.

Susan Dunlap with the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services told us the Department of Public Health gets data from local and district health departments.

The COVID-19 census numbers only include confirmed patients. That does not include at-home test results or people who think they may have COVID-19 but don’t get tested.

Before home testing kits were available, every positive test result was reported to the state because they were happening at testing sites or doctors’ offices and hospitals.

However, the current numbers can still be useful. Kevin Hall with the Lexington Fayette County Health Department tells us they think of the reported numbers as a snapshot in time.

So, even if they don’t include every case in the city, or state, they still show the trend of covid cases, so we can track the spread of the virus.

If you have a Good Question you’d like us to try to answer, send it to goodquestion@wkyt.com.

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