Collin County delays shift to state reporting on coronavirus cases

Collin County has postponed shifting its coronavirus case management to the Texas Department of State Health Services, according to an update from County Judge Chris Hill.

Hill, Commissioner Cheryl Williams and other Collin County staff participated in a call with DSHS officials May 26, the day that the transfer to state reporting was scheduled to begin.

The state department agreed to delay the transition for further discussions, Hill said, and gave three options for how Collin County may proceed.

The first option would be for Collin County Health Care Services to continue managing all case investigations, contact tracing and case reporting; the second would include the county continuing managing case investigations while the state takes on the responsibility of contact tracing and daily reporting; and the third would move all case investigations, contact tracing and daily reporting to the state.

A special meeting of the Commissioners Court will take place May 29 for a discussion and possible action on continued case management.

The county will continue to monitor all positive reports and provide daily case updates until a decision is made, according to the update.

The county was notified May 25 that the transition to state case management was scheduled to take place the next day, according to a May 25 update from Hill. The county would have stopped daily updates had the transition taken place but would have continued to monitor active cases and those who may be infected with the virus until they were fully recovered, he said.

The state uses different case definitions and criteria than Collin County, according to a notice from Collin County health officials, and had the transition happened, case updates would have moved to the state's COVID-19 dashboard.