CLEVELAND — Despite at-home COVID-19 test kits having been available in Ohio since at least July 2020, the Cuyahoga County Board of Health (CCBH) has only just this month made self-reporting positive test results possible for residents.
Last week, CCBH implemented a system where Cuyahoga County residents can send an email with detailed information to have COVID-19 cases confirmed by at-home testing counted among the county's official case numbers.
The late start to documenting positive COVID-19 cases confirmed with at-home testing is alarming because it could potentially mean dramatically undercounted case numbers for the county.
The ability to report these cases now comes amid a surge in COVID-19 cases that medical professionals are attributing to the omicron variant, which to date has shown itself to be a highly contagious mutation of the coronavirus.
While the omicron variant appears to be infecting even people who are fully vaccinated and have had a booster shot, early anecdotal evidence suggests that people in this category are experiencing either no symptoms, or mild to moderate symptoms of COVID-19.
In order to properly self-report a COVID-19 case confirmed by at-home testing, residents of Cuyahoga County must email the following information to dataentry1@ccbh.net:
- Full name
- Address
- Phone number
- Date of birth
- Race
- Ethnicity
- Time and date the test showed a positive COVID-19 result
- Brand of test taken (for example, "QuickVue At-Home OTC COVID-19 Test")
All of the above information must be included, or else the COVID-19 case cannot be counted among the county's official numbers.
Once the information gets to the county, it is then sent on to the appropriate place for it to be documented. For example, Cuyahoga County doesn’t record COVID-19 cases for the city of Cleveland. Because the city records its own numbers, reports sent to the above email address from Cleveland-proper addresses are sent to the Cleveland Department of Health for documentation.
A representative for CCBH told 3News that this system will likely change, as this method was just implemented last week.
Amid this current COVID-19 case surge, medical professionals are urging Ohioans to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, as it is the best form of protection against hospitalization and death due to COVID-19.
