Local COVID-19 surge data in Hamilton County hits snag with 'technical difficulties'

Staff photo by C.B. Schmelter / Hamilton County Health Department Administrator of Health Services Becky Barnes speaks during a news briefing before a tour of the Alstom COVID-19 testing site on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020 in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Staff photo by C.B. Schmelter / Hamilton County Health Department Administrator of Health Services Becky Barnes speaks during a news briefing before a tour of the Alstom COVID-19 testing site on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020 in Chattanooga, Tenn.

As the coronavirus in Hamilton County continues to break local records, residents may not have a clear picture of the extent of the pandemic in the area until the end of the week.

During the past two days, the Hamilton County Health Department experienced technical difficulties in both of its reporting systems, causing the number of reported cases to be lower than the actual number, officials said.

The department said Monday it expected the issue to be resolved by Tuesday, but later revised that to say the problem should be resolved by the end of the week.

From the incomplete data that is available, the local outbreak is already exceeding the records broken last week when the department reported at least 200 new infections a day for four straight days.

On Tuesday, the health department reported 210 new infections, along with 112 hospitalizations and 35 people in intensive care. Using this data, the county is averaging 192 new cases per day for the past week.

Becky Barnes, health department administrator, said the technical issues were not affecting hospitalization data but did not offer further explanation of what issues the department was experiencing.

Without accurate case data, the most current test positivity rate for new tests cannot be calculated. On Sunday, before the technical issues were made public, the county averaged a 14% positivity rate in the previous seven days.

Meanwhile, local health officials are offering a stern warning ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday as local COVID-19 cases continue to surge to unprecedented levels.

Rae Bond, chair of the COVID-19 Joint Task Force, said Tuesday that people in the Chattanooga area need to fight the mounting coronavirus fatigue and stay diligent in following public health guidelines.

"We are at a pivotal point in our community, and we have the hope of an effective vaccine in our future," Bond said. "But now is the time for us to step up our personal protective measures, especially as the Thanksgiving holiday approaches. We can't be complacent while we're waiting for a vaccine to become widely available."

The holiday message comes as two potential vaccines have shown promise with at least 90% effectiveness in their early trials. However, those vaccines are still months away from distribution in the United States, and new infections are raging across the country.

Bond said small private gatherings continue to drive the local outbreak, a problem health officials have emphasized for weeks.

"People are legitimately tired of isolation and they want to see their friends and they want to socialize," she said. "But those very gatherings are the source of much of the growth of COVID in our community. So social distancing remains extremely important."

The spike in new cases led Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke to call for a statewide mask mandate and increased pressure on Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger to tighten COVID-19 restrictions beyond the face covering requirement. Yet, an increase in restrictions is unlikely.

Coppinger will announce Thursday whether he will extend the countywide mask mandate.

Contact Wyatt Massey at wmassey@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249. Follow him on Twitter @news4mass.

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