Starting April 20, the Georgia Department of Public Health will move away from daily coronavirus reports and will begin reporting COVID-19 data on a weekly basis.
The new weekly reports will be posted every Wednesday on the Department of Public Health’s website.
According to health department officials, weekly intervals provide a more complete picture than day to day changes or data fluctuations when determining areas of concern or COVID’s trajectory in the state.
Given the number of at-home COVID tests that do not get reported, the state now has a greater focus on other indicators such as hospital admissions, hospital occupancy, and overall vaccination rates when assessing the community impact of COVID-19.
Additional data that are reported weekly, such as the County Indicator Report, Breakthrough Case Report, and School-Aged Surveillance Report will continue to be published on their current publication days.
“We believe weekly COVID reporting will continue to support a sustainable response in Georgia while informing decision-making around transmission and infection rates,” said Dr. Kathleen E. Toomey, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health. “DPH epidemiologists and the data team have worked tirelessly for more than two years to provide this information to the public. We are extremely grateful for their work and dedication.”
Additionally, due to new CDC guidance, only positive and negative PCR test results and positive antigen tests are required to be reported. Facilities no longer need to report negative results from antigen orrapid tests, and they no longer need to report any positive or negative results for antibody tests. Home tests also are not reportable.
Due to this reporting requirement change and the change in data received by DPH, the following columns will be removed from the COVID-19 Testing table:
· PCR/Molecular Reported Today
· Total Antigen
· Total Antibody (Serology)
Changes have also been made to the downloadable data files, see The Latest: What’s New with this Report for additional information.
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