Antigen Test Backlog Pushes Ohio To Single-Day Confirmed Case Record

Ohio has logged its highest daily number of confirmed coronavirus cases since the pandemic began, but some of that is related to a backlog of tests that the state was double checking over the last several weeks.

The Centers for Disease Control has been allowing results from less sensitive antigen tests to be included with results of PCR tests most states were using since August.

At his press conference Monday, Gov. Mike DeWine explained the state has now added in results from a backlog of 13,000 antigen tests from the federal government, resulting in a single day record of 11,728 confirmed cases and nearly 14,000 probable ones.

“To be clear, all these backlog tests will not translate into new cases, not all of them, they'll be checked and duplicate records will be removed," DeWine said.

The state's coronavirus website has a notice that reads: "The data update for 12/8 includes a backlog of approximately 13,000 antigen test records that date back to November 1, for a total of 25,721 cases reported. These cases have all been assigned to their respective onset dates, and will be displayed that way in any dashboards that use onset date."

The state will report positivity rates for PCR and antigen tests separately. Right now the seven day positivity rate moving average is 16%, putting Ohio on its own travel advisory list.

DeWine has experience with antigen tests - he tested positive for coronavirus with an antigen test arranged by the White House before a meeting with President Trump in Cleveland in August. That meeting was canceled and DeWine headed back to Columbus, where he tested negative with two subsequent PCR tests.

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