California Temporarily Halts Adding Counties To Coronavirus Watchlist
Sonora, CA — The state of California will not be adding any new counties to its COVID-19 watchlist, or removing any existing, until problems are fixed with its reporting database.
It is unknown how long that effort will take, according to the California Department of Public Health.
We reported earlier that Tuolumne County met the criteria to be added to the watchlist around July 25, based on county released statistics, but was never placed on the state’s list. The California Reportable Disease Information Exchange, also known as CalReadie, is backlogged and not working properly. Tuolumne County officials can see local data being inserted, but it is not accessible by the state. In addition, results from outside labs are not showing up in the system.
The Associated Press reports that the CalREDIE system collects data from testing labs around California. The state uses data such as infection rates to determine which counties land on a watch list. Counties must come off the list for 14 days to be able to reopen certain businesses and offer in-classroom instruction for students. 38 counties are currently on the frozen list.
State and county officials are in the dark about COVID-19 trends over the past week. For the second day in a row yesterday, Tuolumne County reported no new COVID-19 positive tests, but as noted, the data is incomplete.
