News Flash

For Immediate Release

04/29/2020                        

Phone: 980-432-1800
Website: www.rowancountync.gov/covid-19
Email: covid-19@rowancountync.gov

Rowan County Case Information: https://bit.ly/rowan-covid19-hub

Rowan County Data Analysis

As part of the Public Health Command Center’s commitment to transparency and accuracy, we want to provide insight about how Rowan County’s data is calculated and shared.  It has been noted that there are differences between what the State reports and what Rowan County reports.  It is important for us to make sure our community understands the process and hard work that goes in to sharing the information in a meaningful way.  Both sources are correct, but we want to explain why Rowan County’s Data Hub should be the preferred choice for the most current and accurate statistical information.

One of the most common reasons for differences between state and local data is reporting time.  The state reports at 11:00 am and Rowan County reports data every day from 4:00 to 5:00 pm.  We report our data later in the day because the Rowan County Health Department has a team that must reach out to each reported positive case to conduct an investigation.  The results of the investigation provide many of the elements we report.  The County then manually reviews individualized data for each case when calculating our totals.

Dashboard data from the state is pulled from the live NC Electronic Disease Surveillance System (NC EDSS) database. When the state feeds case count information to NC EDSS, errors can occur and case information can possibility be assigned to the wrong county. When this occurs, the state’s investigation team evaluates the discrepancy and may have to “reassign” the cases to the correct county. These incorrect cases are reported on the State’s Dashboard for Rowan County until they are re-assigned, which can take time to do. If the team is unable to verify the county the case belongs to, it is sent back to the state to determine the county to which it belongs.  During this time, the case continues to show as a Rowan County case.

While data provided by the state is accurate, numbers/data/cases may fluctuate for reasons shared above. If you have a specific need or question, requests will be answered as staff time is available and we may not be able to help with all requests. Thank you for your concern and your understanding.

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Contact:
TJ Brown
704-216-8918
tj.brown@rowancountync.gov

Download Media Release COVID-19 - April 29, 2020 (PDF)