Reporting at-home COVID test results; official case data impacted

At-home COVID test result reporting impacts official case data

Wisconsin is seeing record COVID-19 case levels. At-home test kits provide an option for many, but their results may not be included in official data.

MILWAUKEE - As the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 in Wisconsin reaches record levels, many are getting used to at-home test kits. However, there is one step many people are missing in the process.

Those who have used them know how it works. You follow the rapid test's directions and wait around 10 minutes for results. It's what comes next, though, that may be impacting data.

"What we know is that at-home tests are a good additional tool in our tool kit," said Traci DeSalvo, director of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services' Bureau of Communicable Diseases.

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What health officials, like DeSalvo, don't know is how many of those at-home tests get reported and included in official case data.

"We are potentially having more cases than even the DHS numbers actually reflect," said DeSalvo.

At-home COVID-19 test kit

The numbers that are reported already paint a clear picture of the pandemic in Wisconsin. Some experts say that may be enough.

"There’s a clear uptick in the number of cases, there’s a clear uptick in the amount of positivity and there’s a clear uptick in hospitalizations," said Dr. Ben Weston, associate professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin's Department of Emergency Medicine.

"We don’t know what percentage of cases out there are not being recorded, but I think in the end, I don’t know if that number matters as much as the trends matter.

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Still, health departments such as Waukesha County Public Health are encouraging anyone who gets a positive result from their at-home test to share that information with their local health department or health care provider to help determine the next steps.

"I think that taking those tests, though, is the responsible thing. People want to know if they’re going to be contagious to people," said UW Health's Dr. Bill Hartman.

Drive-thru COVID-19 testing line in Milwaukee

That knowledge is what's important.

"I have no angst or anger toward people who aren’t reporting as long as they’re doing the testing and following the quarantine guidelines put forth by CDC, so we can keep this under control," Hartman said.

According to the Wisconsin DHS website, confirmed cases come from a PCR test, while those who test positive with an antigen test are considered a "probable" case. Antigen tests are not as accurate at detecting the virus.

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