Idaho health district talks about the backlog of positive COVID-19 cases

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI)- Idaho is dealing with a backlog of more than 42,000 positive COVID-19 cases which still need to be followed up on, according to the State Department of Health and Welfare.

James Corbett, the Community Health Division Administrator for Eastern Idaho Public Health, says the district has a few hundred.

"We have, as of Thursday night, around 350 cases, so not a terrible amount," Corbett said. "We're working quickly. The team is doing a fantastic job of trying to get those in as soon as we get them."

But that doesn't necessarily mean there are 350 more positive cases than reported.

"Some may be duplicates from individuals testing again to see if they're negative for a job requirement, or to get a second opinion," Corbett said. "A few of those might be negative, and we're getting those lab reports as well at times. So it's likely to be a few smaller than 350, but how much it's hard to determine."

The team of investigators and contract tracers who have to review the cases will talk with those who are positive.

"The reviewing can be anywhere from a few minutes if nobody answers at the other end of the line to 15 to 20 minutes, depending on each case, depending on the education and the questions someone might have," Corbett said. "All told, it can be upwards of 30 minutes once you're putting in data and all that stuff into computer software and stuff."

It's important to note these are just cases the state knows about.

"Home tests are not reported to public health," Corbett said. "So these are just cases that we know of. It gives an understanding of what's going on in the community, but likely numbers are higher than that with home tests or other tests that may or may not be reported."