West Virginia

We have two questions about the information West Virginia shares with the CDC regarding COVID-19.

1. In looking at the CDC’s Cases and Deaths dataset (United States COVID-19 Cases and Deaths by State over Time. link: https://data.cdc.gov/Case-Surveillance/United-States-COVID-19-Cases-and-Deaths-by-State-o/9mfq-cb36) we notice that West Virginia has values reported for new probable deaths (‘pnew_death’) however no value is reported for probable deaths (‘probdeath’). For example, on 2/11, the value for ‘pnew_death’ was 6 while the field for ‘probdeath’ was blank.

Can you confirm that West Virginia is reporting probable deaths information to the CDC? And, can you confirm the most up-to-date information you have regarding probable deaths over time?

2. More generally, can you tell us about the different mechanisms of reporting cases and deaths to the federal government (voluntary NNDS, aggregate counts process, and line level reporting from the state health department)? We are particularly interested in the aggregate count process as it appears to be the source of the state-level data published by the federal government regularly.

West Virginia reports aggregate case and death counts (both probable and confirmed) to CDC each day through their aggregate count reporting mechanism. Initially when CDC set up that reporting system, we did not give them permission to publish and publicly report our death total segregated into confirmed and probable counts because at the time we were not doing so on our own public dashboard. We assume that is why the probable death totals are not reported on their site. We do report both probable and confirmed death counts to CDC each day and on our public dashboard. We plan to contact CDC to grant them permission to report our probable death counts on their site.

Please note that our dashboard is always the most reliable source of information for West Virginia’s data.

The Multiracial category has been removed this week (191 Cases and 2 Deaths). Where did these counts go (i.e - did they get resorted into another race category - and if so, which?

The multiracial category was grouped with the “Other” category.

It looks like cumulative totals were removed from the Long-term care dashboard on 11/12. We see now that the cumulative totals have returned. Thank you for this. We're wondering what the cause of this might have been.

I am unsure of the reason.

Also, can we calculate cumulative by adding recovered to the active column? It would be helpful to know this in case, for whatever reason in the future, cumulative totals aren't available.

I am not sure that is the intent to add the two together.

What does “COVID-19 associated deaths” mean?

Deaths caused by complications of COVID-19.

On 11/18 the WV dashboard reported genders female, male, unknown, (blank), and D instead of the usual female, male, and other. Can you help us to understand this?

I am not seeing this and guessing it was a human error.

Where can we get WV's cumulative hospitalization numbers, and can we get this information on a daily basis?

The daily hospitalized with confirmed COVID-19 numbers are available here: https://dhhr.wv.gov/COVID-19/Pages/default.aspx - on the hospital tab of the dashboard.

We are currently interpreting the number marked as “Confirmatory Lab Test” as referring to the total number of specimens tested. Is this correct? If so, do you have plans to release the total number of unique individuals tested?

-Confirmatory Lab Test is the total number of PCR molecular tests. -They are in the process of evaluating factors like unique individuals tested and the percent positivity over a 7-14 day period.

Do you have plans to release a full historical time-series of all testing and results? We have been capturing the total test results in the “Confirmatory Lab Test” metric since April 29, 2020. Do you plan to release a historical time series of that number? Will this historical data set be available consistently and in an automation friendly form, like an ArcGIS or CKAN API or a direct download of CSV or JSON?

If you right click on graphs in Case and Lab Trends tab, you can get a table of data going back to March 11. They said they would put on a note on the dashboard indicating this can be done.

Other states provide their COVID-19 testing and outcomes in machine readable format, but as far as we are aware West Virginia does not at this time. Do you have plans to release this data in an automation friendly form, like an ArcGIS or CKAN API or a direct download of CSV or JSON?

- Machine readable is possible but not at this time.

Do you perform any deduplication to reach the "Confirmatory Lab Test" number? If so, how? (i.e. instances swabbed per day/week; recording only one positive test per person, but multiple negative tests for the same person; etc.)? When reporting testing results, if the same person gets different test results on different days, would you report raw results as part of the daily positives or do you apply any kind of logic such as reporting only the first negative or positive result per individual?

No deduplication for individuals w/ repeat testing. This may change in the near future and will need to circle back on this, but at this present moment, it isn’t happening.

We’re interested in testing data in units of “testing encounters”, which can be defined as “the number of unique people who have been tested per day.” Under this metric, if a person is being tested once today and once again the following week, that counts as two tests, however, if the same person has two samples tested at a testing center visit, then that only counts as one testing encounter. Are you willing to or are you planning to release testing encounters? If so, will you be able to provide historical data consistently in an automation friendly form, like an ArcGIS or CKAN API or a direct download of CSV or JSON?

WV does not plan to do testing encounters.

What categories are included in Other, and would it be possible for WV to include more of the census categories?

The Other categories are the American Indian and Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian, or other Pacific Islander. We do collect them. We don't display them uniquely just because of the low or no case counts that are reported they are grouped into Other.

When you’re looking at 7 day trends, it shows 48.6% for other. Do you know what community that is if the groups you just mentioned are such a low percentage of cases?]

Is it possible that that data is for the “check all that apply?” I’ll be honest, I didn’t know it was doing that. I believe that may include unknown. Because when you look at the data table that’s creating that graph, it actually lists, white, AIAN, they’re listed separately but has zero and then a case count for Black. Now that I see that, I feel certain that Unknown is included in that and I’ll see if we can get that changed because that shouldn’t be that way. I’ll have to check and see if that’s for the data beyond the 7-day trends. Let me get some more information on that. There are several categories where we have data on our laboratory reports as incomplete. We’re hopeful that federal requirements for complete data being submitted to us on the laboratory reports will continue to improve. We’ve got a pretty significant team working with reporting facilities across the state to address some of the areas w/ incomplete data and this is one of the areas where we have difficulty getting it from the laboratory reports and also have difficulty collecting this information in case interviews.

Why is this data incomplete?

Two of the reasons might be because the laboratory report does not contain the information. And the other is that the case interview does not disclose or is unable to be reached.

As of 5/24, WV has stopped reporting race data for deaths--why was this change made, and when will these data be reported again?

We do have an analysis underway for that. I didn’t see the first part of that question when we were preparing our questions. -Will need to get back to us on this.

On 7/12, WV reported one case labeled "Asian; Black or African American; White." To what race and/or ethnicity does this case belong?

In this case it’s what the individual reported to us. Where they would check all that apply. When filling out the form, are able to check more than one box.

On 7/22, WV reported one case labeled "Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander; White." To what race and/or ethnicity does this case belong?

In this case it’s what the individual reported to us. Where they would check all that apply. When filling out the form, they are able to check more than one box.

On 7/17, WV indicated antigen tests are not being reported in the totals on the dashboard. Is this still the case? If it is the case, are there plans to report them (ideally separately from the main totals)? If it is not the case, are there plans to break them out separately?

They are not currently reported on the website. It is in our plans to report them in the future. I can’t speak to that at this time. (CTP: When you do, will you report them separately?) We’re still evaluating the methods for receiving the results and such. (CTP: We would like to put in a vote for reporting them separately)

On the dashboard, we have to click in order to see the breakdown of probable and confirmed cases. Is it possible to change the dashboard so this information is visible without the click? https://dhhr.wv.gov/COVID-19/Pages/default.aspx

We can certainly appreciate all of the user issues, but at this point we won’t be able to change that at this time.

Does WV collect information about the cumulative number of hospitalizations? Is it possible to report this information on the dashboard?

WV Hospital Association could provide this. The WV Department of Health will provide us with contact info.

Do you have any plans with your Long-Term Care Reporting to break out staff and resident deaths?

We don’t have plans to do that at this time.

We can’t download the LTC Dashboard, is there a way to download it as a spreadsheet? Right now we take pictures and turn those into PDFs and then turn that into a spreadsheet.

I believe it has a feature that if you have a right click, you could copy and paste it more easily into excel, but that’s the only way it’s downloadable.

Is West Virginia performing pool testing? If so, how is that testing reported? What types of testing are you using?

The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR), West Virginia Office of Laboratory Services is not currently pool testing specimens for COVID-19. The primary type of diagnostic testing being performed in WV and with commercial reference labs is PCR.

Are you conducting antigen tests? If so, are those test results included in your state COVID portal? And how many antigen tests have you conducted?

There are some private laboratories that conduct antigen testing which are reported to DHHR via electronic laboratory reporting. These tests are not included in the total diagnostic tests reported on the dashboard. The West Virginia Office of Laboratory Services does not conduct antigen testing.

Does the "confirmatory lab test" figure refer to people tested or specimens tested? What about the figures in the charts on the "Lab test trends" page of the dashboard?

Both are Specimens tested

Would it be possible to list totals on the LTC facility table and separate deaths into resident vs staff deaths? Currently deaths are listed, but while positives and recovered numbers have categories for residents and staff, deaths do not.

We have no plans at this time to make this change.

What categories are included in Other (and could WV include more of the census categories in their reporting)?

Other includes when race is unknown, and all other races that are not white or black.

When will WV begin reporting ethnicity information for cases and deaths?

WV is monitoring this internally, but at this time has no plan to add it to the dashboard.

As of 5/24, WV has stopped reporting race data for deaths--why was this change made, and when will these data be reported again?

WV is monitoring these internally. They were removed due to the addition of more county level data.