HYDE COUNTY, N.C. — Hyde County Health Department said its first confirmed COVID-19 case was one of 122 inaccurate COVID-19 tests reported to the NC Department of Health and Human Services.
Health Director Luana Gibbs said the data reported by Vidant Health to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services included a technical error "affecting 122 results."
"I hated it that I told our public we now have a case and indeed we did not, I was extremely upset,” said Gibbs.
Gibbs said she updated their report about the negative case, which Vidant reported as positive, but she's concerned about other parts of North Carolina.
Gibbs said the inaccuracies may have led someone who is positive to end up with a negative report.
"I know we're not. We're not the only Health Department dealing with this,” said Gibbs.
The data feed issue has since been corrected.
"It is important to point out that the actual lab test results in Vidant's electronic medical record were correct; there was a technical issue with transmitting data to the state," Vidant Health said in a statement.
"We are currently working with NCDHHS to update the data. We apologize for any confusion this has caused the state, local health departments and patients."
Gibbs says the patient was "relieved to know there was a data feed reporting error."
NCDHHS is working to update its website with the correct numbers of cases.
Phillip Holloway is proud to live in Hyde County and describes it as rural and the kind of place where everyone knows each other.
Which is why he said people felt concerned, before the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services announced Vidant's correction.
"Even if it's not necessarily a family member, it's someone that you know and that you have a close bond with, so it's very scary, especially not knowing who it may be,” said Holloway.
Moving forward, Holloway hopes Hyde County will not have any COVID-19 cases.
"I'm glad to hear that it was wrong,” said Holloway. "Continue doing what we're doing and taking precautions so we can get back to regular life as soon as possible."