California COVID-19 Data Glitch Fixed.

By Michael G. Stogner

San Mateo County Dashboard should be fully functional by Sunday night.

A technical glitch that has plagued the data system the state relies on to make decisions about reopening businesses and schools has been fixed but it could take up to 48 hours to get the numbers updated, California’s top health official said Friday.

California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said that up to 300,000 records might have been backlogged — but not all of them are coronavirus cases and some may be duplicates. California reported 8,436 new confirmed cases Friday and surpassed 10,000 deaths from the coronavirus.

“We apologize. You deserve better, the governor demands better of us and we are committed to doing better,” Ghaly said.

County health officials say they’ve been flying blind, unable to conduct robust contact tracing or monitor health factors without timely information, especially at a time when parents are on edge about school plans.

Update: August 8, 2020 San Mateo County Website does not inform the residents that the Glitch has been corrected.

Health Officer Updates

• SMC Health Data
• Local Updates
• COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions
• Resources
• Contacts

  SAN MATEO COUNTY HEALTH DATA

  

  A significant unresolved problem with the State of California’s reporting system for communicable diseases (California Reportable Disease Information Exchange [CalREDIE]), has resulted in significant underreporting of COVID-19 testing results to San Mateo County Health and local health departments state-wide. Local health departments are receiving incomplete information regarding laboratory test results, which affects our ability to identify new cases of COVID-19, to accurately report the testing positivity rate in our community, and to identify the number of persons tested for the last few weeks. Without timely reports of all new lab results, it is impossible for the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and local health officials to identify the extent to which COVID-19 is circulating in the community. It also hinders our ability to conduct effective contact tracing and case investigations to slow the spread of COVID-19.

  The extent of this issue is currently unknown, and the expected resolution date is also unknown.  San Mateo County Health is in conversations with CDPH, working to rapidly resolve this issue and creating new paths for laboratory results to be reported to our County. In the meantime, we are continuing to report the testing data we do receive and will make clear to the public which data reported on our website are affected by this issue. Data currently affected are in the County Data Dashboard, the Lab Testing Data Dashboard, the Cases by City map, and the Long Term Care Facility Data Dashboard. CDPH has confirmed that although received data are incomplete, the data are valid for those results we are receiving. We expect the testing positivity rate, the daily and cumulative case counts, and other data points on the County’s COVID-19 data dashboards to change as more complete test results are reported to San Mateo County Health.

  Please click on any data dashboard below to load the data.
  

  METRIC SCORECARDSPublic Health Indicators for Assessing Progress on Containing COVID-19

  Due to a significant and unresolved problem with the State of California’s reporting system for communicable diseases (California Reportable Disease Information Exchange [CalREDIE]), San Mateo County Health, as well as county public health departments statewide, are experiencing significant underreporting of COVID-19 testing results. The State has confirmed that the test results data we have received is valid, but incomplete. We do not yet know the extent of this issue or when the State will be able to resolve it, but we are in communication with the State along with all the counties and will support their efforts to rapidly resolve this issue. We are also working closely with the State to implement parallel procedures to assure our staff can continue to conduct effective contact tracing and case investigations to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in our community. Until we receive confirmation from the State that the data is once again being fully reported, members of the public should assume that any dashboard elements that rely on test results are incomplete. We have temporarily removed some dashboards from this website until there is resolution of this problem.

  

  COUNTY DATA DASHBOARD

  Recent data are incomplete.

  This dashboard details the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths within San Mateo County, including by day, age, race/ethnicity and sex of patients. A case is someone who tests positive for COVID-19 using viral testing performed in a lab.

  • Read more

  

  HOSPITAL DATA

  This dashboard provides information on the number of hospitalized patients with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19, as well as current occupancy and availability of intensive care unit beds, acute hospital beds and ventilators across San Mateo County. These data are provided by hospitals and may vary greatly day to day as discharges, transfers, and deaths of patients occur throughout the day.

  • Read more

  

  LAB TESTING DATA

  Recent data are incomplete.

  This dashboard provides information on the number of COVID-19 tests administered daily in San Mateo County, including positive, negative and pending results. The health office monitors testing to ensure enough capacity to isolate those who test positive, use contact tracing to notify anyone who may have been exposed, and ultimately slow the spread of COVID-19.

  • Read more

  

  CASES BY CITY

  Recent data are incomplete.

  This map breaks down the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in San Mateo County by city and is updated once a week on Fridays.

  • Read more