The Iowa Department of Public Health is working with a local Webster County medical clinic to correct errors in COVID-19 test results reporting, the Webster County Public Health Department clarified in a press release on Tuesday.

While reviewing the county’s positivity rate last week — formulated from the sum total of individual positive cases divided by the sum total of individuals tested over a rolling 14-day period — the WCPH “questioned the data that was available and why the 14-day positivity rate was high.”

The clinic was not named by WCPH.

On Friday, the state-reported positivity rate for Webster County was 23.2%. Monday evening, the department reported that errors in the coding of test results and the delayed reporting of negative results contributed to the inflated positivity rate.

Antigen test results at the clinic were erroneously coded as results from the viral test, or polymerise chain reaction, the WCPH said. The department said the coding on those results is being corrected and the county’s confirmed positive case reports will be adjusted to reflect the accurate data.

Additionally, Webster County Public Health said it reached out to the clinic and questioned if negative test results had been entered into the Iowa Disease Surveillance System database.

“It was reported that not all negative tests were entered,” WCPH said. “The local clinic submitted approximately 3,000 negative test results to IDPH that night, but later learned that the state’s reporting system had rejected the submission.”

On Monday, the Iowa Department of Public Health validated that not all the test results had been entered into database, which determines the county’s positivity rate.

“Upon review, it appeared that with the increased testing in the community the week prior, the percentage of positivity had gone down, and with the additional negatives that hadn’t been entered into the system, it is understood that the rate would have been impacted more in a downward trend,” the WCPH explained.

At the end of last week, the Fort Dodge Community School District had announced it was delaying the start of the school year by two weeks due to the elevated positivity rate in the county. However, after learning that the accurate data would put the positivity rate much lower, the district walked back that decision on Monday, stating that the school year will begin on Aug. 25 as originally scheduled.

As of 7 p.m. on Tuesday, the county’s positivity rate is recorded as 11.5% on the state’s COVID-19 website.

Webster County Public Health had previously said it was working with the Iowa department and the clinic to address the coding and reporting issues, but later clarified that it only asked the Iowa Department of Public Health for guidance and a review of the data and that the Iowa department is working directly with the clinic to fix the issue.

“The WCPH does not have the authority to override or ‘correct’ testing numbers,” the department said.

The county health department will continue to review Iowa Disease Surveillance System reports and analyze testing data entered into IDSS.

“WCPH expects that all testing data from all Webster County clinics be reported in full and in a timely manner, to allow us to complete disease investigations and isolation/quarantine requirements,” WCPH said on Tuesday.