RICHMOND, Va. (WAVY) — The number of people tested for COVID-19 in Virginia will see a spike in the next few days due to a backlog of testing data.
The Virginia Department of Health said starting Tuesday, June 9, its COVID-19 data dashboard will reflect an additional 13,000 tests.
Those backlogged tests will be “slowly added” to the current data over a “couple days,” the VDH wrote in a news release Monday.
The backlog consists mostly of negative tests.
The VDH says this backlog happened because a Richmond-area laboratory had previously been sending test results to the state via fax. Those results had to be manually entered by VDH staff.
VDH staff prioritized adding positive test results to state data, which is why the backlog is largely negative tests.
That Richmond-area lab is now sending test results to the VDH electronically.
“This change alleviates by half the reporting backlog of test results. VDH continues to work to eliminate that backlog,” the VDH wrote.
