San Luis Obispo County public health officials inspect a backlog in reported COVID-19 cases

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. - San Luis Obispo County public health officials say COVID-19 cases are surging in the county, despite a delay in cases being reported.

County health officials are now inspecting a backlog of cases in the State’s database after the holiday weekend, which is causing a delay in reported data at the local level.

The State has recently started a new process to assign suspected cases to a jurisdiction. Those suspected cases must then be inspected at the local level and reclassified by a local health official as a confirmed case, to ensure the accuracy of local data.

This new process creates a slight backlog of the number of new confirmed cases reported locally.

This process does not affect the number of reported cases requiring hospitalization or intensive care. It also does not affect the number of deaths reported locally, as that data is assessed through separate methods.

The County Public Health Department reported SLO County’s highest number of hospitalized cases, 47, and ICU cases, 12, Tuesday.

Health officials say that San Luis Obispo County’s total number of cases will likely surpass 10,000 before the end of the week.