COVID-19 numbers increase in Donley County

COVID-19 numbers continue to rise in Donley County and the Panhandle region with no immediate relief in sight.

The Clarendon Family Medical Center reported Tuesday afternoon that 30 active cases are under its care, which was up from 28 Monday and up from 19 one week ago.

Also as of Tuesday, the clinic has conducted 507 tests since the pandemic began with 133 cases confirmed as positive.

Donley County Judge John Howard, MD, said Tuesday that there are about five more active cases that he is aware of in the county, which would bring the overall active count up to at least 35. But Howard also discussed the difficulty in getting accurate case counts for local residents who test outside of Donley County.

The judge’s office received a state update last Wednesday, but the state then retracted the report on Friday, saying there had been data errors and that a new report would be issued that day. Then Howard later learned the state office was closed on Friday, and he still had no update as of Tuesday.

“If someone from Donley County tests positive in Amarillo, that case is first reported to Potter/Randall county officials, who then report it to the state regional office in Lubbock, who then are supposed to report it to the county and the state,” Howard said.

Howard expressed frustration with the state reporting system, not only for the time lag but also how the state is handling the results of rapid tests like those now being conducted at the local clinic. The state, Howard said, will not count a positive rapid test as a confirmed COVID-19 case unless it is backed up by the more invasive swab test.

“They will report those as ‘probable’ or ‘pending,’ but I assure you the only way you’re going to get a positive rapid test is if in fact you have COVID,” Howard said. The state’s online dashboard, therefore, will not show the same number of “confirmed” COVID cases in Donley County as reported in the Enterprise, and Howard also said the online dashboard of the Childress Regional Medical Center is “in no way official.”

Regarding the active cases in Donley County, Howard calls it a “rolling number,” noting patients who test positive for COVID-19 should come off the active list ten days after their test unless they are still showing symptoms.

“A lot of cases are going beyond ten days,” he said.

Howard also said the positivity rate for the local clinic in October was 34 percent and said three of his patients are currently hospitalized.

“From September 30 through November 5, we conducted 225 tests and had 77 positives,” he said. “We’ve had 22 positives in November alone. November 4 and 5, we performed 31 tests and had 13 positives.”