Only 1,432 at-home COVID tests reported to RIDOH this year

SO FAR THIS YEAR, up through Feb. 6, a total of just 1,432 self-test results for COVID-19 have been reported to the R.I. Department of Health, including 1,106 positive results and 326 negatives. That means just 22.7% of people who reported their self-test results were negative, far less than the percentage of negative test results seen in the overall testing data collected by the state. / COURTESY CITY OF EAST PROVIDENCE
THROUGH FEB. 6, only1,432 self-test results for COVID-19 have been reported to the R.I. Department of Health, including 1,106 positive results and 326 negatives. That means just 22.7% of people who reported their self-test results were negative, far less than the percentage of negative test results seen in the overall testing data collected by the state. / COURTESY CITY OF EAST PROVIDENCE

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island’s government distributed 1 million at-home COVID-19 test kits to state residents in a matter of a month earlier this year, according to a recent announcement from the Office of Gov. Daniel J. McKee.

In an effort to keep track of self-testing results, the state established a website in December, portal.ri.gov/s/selftest, allowing people to tell the state whether they were positive or negative for COVID-19. But so far, relatively few people have actually reported their test results.

Those who have received at-home test kits from the state, and others who purchased them on their own, have no obligation to report the results. So what does that mean for the state’s COVID-19 infection rate published by the R.I. Department of Health?

According to the RIDOH, from Jan. 1 through Feb. 6, a total of just 1,432 at-home, self-test results have been reported to the state, including 1,106 positive results and 326 negatives. That means just 22.7% of people who reported their self-test results were negative.

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By comparison, according to RIDOH data from that same time frame, the total number of test results collected by the state at that time was 664,145, making the self-reported, at-home test results seem like a drop in the bucket. And the proportion of negative results in the total statewide COVID-19 testing data was much higher at 81.4% negative, with 123,475 positives and 540,670 negatives.

While Rhode Island provides the option to report self-test results, public health departments in several other Northeast states aren’t even trying to collect this information. Officials in Massachusetts and New York state said they don’t have an option for people to report their results.

A spokesperson for the New York Department of Health said asking the public to report the results of at-home COVID-19 tests would likely lead to inaccurate data collection, since many people simply wouldn’t go through the trouble of submitting their results, and those who test negative would be even less inclined to report them.

“While at-home testing is a useful tool for helping to curb virus spread, New York’s count comes from lab-confirmed results,” said NYSDOH spokesperson Erin Silk, in an email. “Reporting of at-home tests would likely only result in a portion of positive results being reported, with few negatives being reported.”

A spokesperson for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health said a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention policy specifies that positive at-home test results are not defined as COVID-19 cases as part of the nation’s system of public health surveillance.

“Over the counter at-home antigen tests, which are not monitored by a clinician, are not reportable to DPH and not counted as cases in the national case definition,” said Kayla Rosario-Munoz, a spokesperson for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services, in an email to Providence Business News.

Rhode Island state officials have said the increased use of self-test kits may have the effect of artificially deflating the state’s overall COVID-19 case count.

“There’s no mandate for them to report, so we know the numbers are a little low,” said Marc R. Pappas, the state’s chief COVID-19 administrator and senior adviser to the governor, speaking at a Jan. 27 press conference.

Dr. James McDonald, the interim director of RIDOH, said he spoke with a state senator recently who wasn’t even aware of the option to report the results of at-home tests taken by himself and a family member.

“He didn’t know we have a website,” McDonald said. “We’re not going to get all these people self-reporting to us. We understand that. It is going to change things.”

The mass distribution of self-test kits in Rhode Island coincides with a sharp decrease in COVID-19 infection numbers throughout the state, following a surge in cases in early January that was fueled by the omicron variant. New cases of COVID-19 reported in Rhode Island within a seven-day time frame reached 411 per 100,000 persons on Feb. 8, down from a peak this year of 3,464 on Jan. 9, according to data from RIDOH.

McDonald, however, said he’s more concerned with hospitalization figures. COVID-19 hospitalizations are also down from their highest point this year at 611 on Jan. 17, to 279 as of Feb. 8, the health department reported.

“That’s something that’s going to be more important to look at,” McDonald said recently.

RIDOH spokesperson Joseph Wendelken said cases and percentages of positive results for COVID-19 tests “are still very important metrics,” but he echoed McDonald’s statements about statistics on hospitalizations from COVID being even more vital to understanding the impact of the pandemic. Wendelken said the RIDOH continues to remind people about the option to report their self-test results through regular posts on social media. He said public officials have also reminded the public about this option during press conferences.

“We know that many test results – positive and negative – don’t get reported to the state,” Wendelken said. “This is true in all states. Cases and percent positive are still very important metrics. But as Dr. McDonald explained at the last COVID-19 press conference, we also look very closely at our hospitalization data to understand how COVID is impacting Rhode Island.”

Marc Larocque is a PBN staff writer. Contact him at Larocque@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter @LaRockPBN.

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1 COMMENT

  1. Honestly, stop wasting energy and money on things that don’t matter. Test results of at home tests don’t matter. It’s simply a quick tool to confirm you have it. At that point, it’s too late to have an impact on anything. Government needs to get out of the way and stay focused on where they can have the greatest impact:
    1. vaccination
    2. anti-virals to reduce hospitalization/death
    3. Educating the public on what the real science (not political science) is
    4. Provide a safety net for those most vulnerable
    5. Get out of the way on everything else and let an informed public make their own choices for themselves and their families in consultation with their own health care providers. Let doctors do their thing with their patients. So remove ALL restrictions at all touchpoints (work, school, public square & transportation) and let’s move on.