By Alison Steinbach | Maria Polletta
Arizona Republic
In Arizona, the portion of COVID-19 tests that come back positive is one of three key metrics guiding decisions about sending children back to school and reopening bars, gyms and other businesses.
But the state is using incomplete data to calculate “percent positivity.”
In fact, it’s tossing out nearly one-quarter of the positive test results it receives when measuring it.
When the Arizona Department of Health Services receives written or faxed results rather than electronic ones, it tallies the positive results and includes them in the state’s overall COVID-19 case count.
But — because “data entry” is not the department’s priority, according to the state’s top health official — it doesn’t count up the negative results needed to accurately determine percent positivity.
