The Ohio Department of Health has developed a technology solution to allow their systems to track negative test results. In response, Interim Director of Health Lance Himes amended a directive on October 20 that now requires all labs to start sharing all positive, negative, inconclusive, and invalid test results related to COVID-19 tests with the Ohio Department of Health.
Previously, labs were reporting positive COVID-19 results at the individual level and as an aggregate count for all other test results.
“Adding these categories will allow us to gather additional data for a more complete picture of how COVID is spreading in our communities,” said Governor Mike DeWine. This will also allow us to provide positivity data by county in the coming weeks.”