A laboratory in Anchorage, Alaska failed to report more than 1,600 positive cases of COVID-19 to the state’s health department, Dr. Louisa Castrodale, an epidemiologist with the state, told reporters on Friday.
Beechtree Labs, a new commercial lab in Anchorage “did not report results for the last four weeks to the State of Alaska until November 25, 2020, also resulting in significant underestimates in case rates,” the department said in its weekly brief.
“Of 13,169 tests, 1,636 were positive, including 357 positives in Anchorage and 880 positives in Mat-Su. As these positive tests are checked for repeats and individually added to case counts, cases will rise particularly in those boroughs for the last four weeks,” the brief stated, adding that a number of those tests were performed within the last two weeks.
The Anchorage Daily News reported that Coleman Cutchins, a clinical pharmacist who leads the COVID-19 testing for the state, said that patients and providers still received their results within 48 hours, so the mix-up “didn’t affect patient care.”
But the lapse does indicate that the rising number of cases reported by the state only reflect a portion of the new infections.
Castrodale added that, besides the Beechtree mix-up, there are also a number of backlogs and slowdowns currently affecting the state’s coronavirus data system — which can be partly blamed by an understaffed health department.
“It’s fair to say that the system is stretched,” she said, noting that state officials are working to fine-tune their work.
They also plan to hire more people, she added.
On Friday the state’s health department reported 735 new confirmed cases of the virus, its second-highest daily count yet.
According to health officials, those recent numbers are likely undercounting new cases in the state, because of the incident with Beechtree.
“We do expect kind of a significant numbers change in or data dashboard that will reflect over about the last two to four weeks,” Cutchins said.
Number of hospitalization are also on the rise in the state, according to data compiled by The COVID Tracking Project.
There were 159 people being treated for COVID-19 in hospitals in Alaska, the highest recorded so far. That’s double the amount of hospitalizations exactly one month ago: 80 on Oct. 28.
