Michigan health officials announced on Tuesday that the state would no longer be reporting COVID-19 data on Sundays, starting this weekend.
Beginning Sunday, Sept. 6, data on cases, deaths and testing will be reported Monday – Saturday. If you follow the COVID-19 data closely, you have probably noticed lower cases reported on Sunday -- and at times, on Monday -- due to a lower volume of tests being reported from labs on weekends.
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MDHHS says it focuses its review of trends on the number of reports for each date that individuals experienced the onset of symptoms and not the daily reported cases which represent the day test results were received. (You can find this on the state’s dashboard here)
“At this time, reporting on Sunday rather than Monday is not critical to our understanding of the virus,” said MDHHS Director Robert Gordon. “This change will allow staff who have not had a real day off since February to get some relief and allow the department to prioritize more valuable data reporting, including school outbreak information.”
Sunday and Monday data will both be reported on Mondays, including Labor Day. MDHHS says this change will not affect the department’s ability to provide onset date information for COVID-19 cases.