The Cole County Health Department forewarned media outlets Tuesday its daily COVID-19 updates would include a data dump, skewing numbers coming out of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
Kristi Campbell, director of the department, said in an email there was "a reporting issue with a local health care system that resulted in a backlog of data."
She said some data from as far back as early December may be coming in late.
Campbell said health organizations are mandated to share data with the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services -- in many instances within one day of identifying the communicable disease.
COVID-19 is considered a high-priority disease, and should be reported immediately, according to the Code of State Regulations.
"The diseases within the immediately reportable disease category pose a risk to national security because they: can be easily disseminated or transmitted from person to person; result in high mortality rates and have the potential for major public health impact; might cause public panic and social disruption; and require special action for public health preparedness," according to state regulations.
Once health organizations notify the state Department of Health and Senior Services about the diseases, the DHSS shares that information with counties affected.
"Some health care organizations will also notify us as a courtesy, but they must report to the state," Campbell said.
"The Cole County Health Department anticipates receiving a large number of positive COVID-19 cases over the next few days from the (DHSS)," she said. "These cases will be reflected in the daily updates and will be added to the test date data charts. The positive cases date back to the first part of December.
The county charts may be found at www.colecounty.org/794/COVID-19.
State laws regarding communicable diseases may be found at www.sos.mo.gov/cmsimages/adrules/csr/current/19csr/19c20-20.pdf.