Texas Strikes 3,484 COVID-19 Cases Off Ledger

Health officials in Texas have removed more than 3,000 reported coronavirus cases from the toll following news "probable" cases were included for people who never tested positive for the virus.

"Since we report confirmed cases on our dashboard, we have removed 3,484 previously reported probable cases from the statewide and Bexar County totals," Chris Van Deusen, a spokesman for the state health agency, told the Austin American-Statesman.

The removal of cases is just the latest in several such incidents where questionable coronavirus counts have been reduced around the country. In Florida, Orlando Health reported a 98% positivity rate but later said its rate was only 9.4%.

Earlier this year, coronavirus task force expert Dr. Deborah Birx said the real coronavirus case and death count could be off by up to 25%.

In Colorado, health officials lowered the official coronavirus death count by 25% after finding some of the victims may have died of other causes.

And in one week in April, health officials in Pennsylvania removed 200 coronavirus cases from the state's count when it was found doctors had never tested the patients who died.

Fox 4 Dallas Evening News anchor Steve Eagar tweeted Wednesday:

"The State of Texas today had to remove 3,484 cases from its COVID-19 positive case count, because the San Antonio Health Department was reporting 'probable' cases for people never actually tested, as 'confirmed' positive cases.- TDHS. What other departments make this same mistake?"

• Pennsylvania Cuts Death Count by 200, Calling Accuracy Into Question
• Several Florida Labs Wrongly Report 100 Percent of COVID-19 Tests Positive