The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) on Thursday corrected its Wuhan coronavirus fatality numbers for the week of July 27th. According to DSHS, 225 people were included in the COVID-19 death toll numbers despite the coronavirus not being the direct cause of their death.
"An automation error caused approximately 225 fatalities to be included even though COVID-19 was not listed as a direct cause of death on the death certificate," the agency said.
DSHS corrects COVID-19 fatality counts for the week of July 27.
— Texas DSHS (@TexasDSHS) July 30, 2020
An automation error caused 225 fatalities to be included even though COVID-19 was not listed as a direct cause of death on the death certificate. #COVID19TX dashboard: https://t.co/ofycOLqWQZ pic.twitter.com/4mKBzjIrfO
According to the Daily Wire, the state of Texas' coronavirus dashboard had a note about the correction:
July 30: Cumulative fatalities have been corrected for July 27, 28 and 29. As DSHS shifted to using death certificate data to count fatalities this week, an automation error caused approximately 225 fatalities to be included that did not have COVID-19 listed as a direct cause of death. A manual quality check revealed the issue late Wednesday.
This isn't the first time there have been "mistakes" related to Wuhan coronavirus numbers. In Orange County, California, 30,000 serology tests – used to detect whether or not a person has antibodies for the virus, suggesting they previously had an infection – were counted in the "cumulative tests to date" figures for five weeks. In Florida, Orlando's positivity rate was said to be 98 percent, when, in reality, it was only 9.4 percent. Part of the issue was the number of clinics and labs that were reporting 100 percent positivity rates.
Health care officials wonder why people are so skeptical of the number of Wuhan coronavirus cases and the fatality rate because there are numerous reporters on the state and local level that show things aren't being accurately counted. Serology tests are being reported as positive cases and people are being counted as coronavirus deaths if they previously had the infection and died (even if their death isn't a result of the virus itself).
Our response to the virus is only as good as our health care officials and data. And right now, both appear to be lacking any kind of credibility.