The Virginia Department of Health reassigned coronavirus tests that were missing zip code data.
The change affects some 37,000 test results statewide that were listed as unassigned.
The health department said if a correct zip code could not be determined they will now be listed by the zip code of the health provider that ordered the test or by the lab that processed it. The total number of tests conducted by the state is not affected.
The change adds 6,453 test results to the Roanoke Health District’s total. The Roanoke district had been listed as conducting the fewest COVID-19 tests in the entire state—fewer than a thousand as of Friday morning’s data update.
Here is the complete announcement from the Virginia Dept. of Health:
(Richmond, Va.) — To provide more accurate information about COVID-19 testing at the community level, Saturday the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) will begin reporting COVID-19 data on testing encounters by health district using more accurate ZIP Code information. The new data will impact 37,362 test results that were previously not assigned a health district designation because incomplete patient address information was reported to VDH.
Since May 1, VDH has reported testing encounters, which counts an individual person once per day as a measure of testing frequency and testing capacity. Because VDH often receives laboratory reports with incomplete information, those results were included in the statewide total, but were listed as missing geographic data and, as a result, did not appear in local health district counts.
Beginning May 30, VDH will report test encounter data using a tiered approach. If a test record is missing a patient address ZIP Code, the ordering provider’s ZIP Code will be used. If neither ZIP Code for the patient or ordering provider is available, the testing laboratory’s ZIP Code will be used.
By using the new data reporting method, testing encounter numbers will increase the health district figures as follows:
- Alexandria by 699
- Alleghany by 1,309
- Arlington by 187
- Central Shenandoah by 334
- Central Virginia by 119
- Chesapeake by 1,213
- Chesterfield by 393
- Chickahominy by 194
- Crater by 892
- Cumberland Plateauby 208
- Eastern Shore by 312
- Fairfax by 3,072
- Hampton by 829
- Henrico by 622
- Lenowisco by 234
- Lord Fairfax by 6,414
- Loudoun by 1,234
- Mount Rogers by 197
- New River by 618
- Norfolk by 2,536
- Peninsula by 1,435
- Piedmont by 106
- Pittsylvania-Danville by 33
- Portsmouth by 165
- Prince William by 933
- Rappahannock by 296
- Rappahannock Rapidan by 454
- Richmond by 3,541
- Roanoke by 6,453
- Southside by 212
- Thomas Jefferson by 573
- Three Rivers by 444
- Virginia Beach by 187
- West Piedmont by 330
- Western Tidewater by 584
This improvement in how VDH presents data on testing encounters does not impact case data.
