Drastic increase in COVID-19 numbers in St. Joseph Co. misleading

On the state’s COVID-19 website, St. Joseph County reported 859 new cases for Thursday, but health officer Dr. Mark Fox says the number is misleading.

Dr. Fox says the 859 count is so high because some rapid COVID test results from the South Bend Clinic were not reported to the state in November.

All of those tests were added to Thursday’s total.

"Right now it looks like about 600 cases are scattered across the month of November. About 250 or so are true new cases from December 2nd,” Dr. Fox said.

The state and local officials are trying to figure out why the tests were not reported in a timely manner.