JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Two days after a “database extract error” incorrectly showed a massive one-day increase in coronavirus cases in Missouri, the problem remains unresolved, a state health official said Monday.
On Saturday, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported more than 5,000 new COVID-19 cases, which would be nearly 3,000 more than the previous record for a single day. But on Sunday, the health department said that number was wrong, blaming the process of migrating data into a new system.
“The team is continuing to work through the issues today. We’re still working to pinpoint the cause as it’s a new issue related to the automated (rather than manual) entry of data,” agency spokeswoman Lisa Cox said in an email.
Later Monday, Cox said the state expects to relaunch the dashboard Wednesday morning.
Because the system is being fixed, the state had not updated any data on Monday, including the number of new cases, deaths and hospitalizations.
In late September, the state began using a new dashboard for tracking COVID-19 that provides additional data, including per capita cases by jurisdiction, rankings of counties by infection rates, and comparing Missouri to other states on several metrics.
INMATE ILLNESS NEAR 2,500
Nearly 2,500 Missouri prison inmates have been infected with the coronavirus since the pandemic began, according to information on the state Department of Corrections’ website.
The state reported 2,447 total inmate cases of COVID-19, but just two deaths from the disease. Meanwhile, 710 prison staff members have been infected, with one death.
Nine Missouri prisons have topped 100 confirmed cases among inmates, led by 468 cases at the prison in Farmington and 366 in nearby Bonne Terre. Both prisons are in St. Francois County, about 60 miles southwest of St. Louis.
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