Active Cases in EP Drop 26K After New Method Put in Place

You'll notice that the number of active cases in El Paso just plummeted. Seriously. It dropped by over 26,000 active cases. Why? The Health Department just changed the way they come up with those numbers. As I'm writing this we have 8,152 known active cases. That is a drop of 26,166 from yesterday.

Chief Mario D'agostino, the head of El Paso's Emergency Operations said:

We're just trying to streamline the system, to make sure the community --as well as everyone on the team here -- has their eyes on the proper data to make recommendations going forward.

So what changed about the criteria? Well, the way they were doing it sounds incredibly stupid. They would only take someone off the 'active' list if they were able to get a hold of that person and get confirmation the person had recovered. If they weren't able to get a hold of the person, they would be considered active for 55 days. That time frame is now shorter at just 28 days. The old method had the numbers in El Paso at over 34,000 active cases back in November.

This new system has been worked on for a few weeks according to Health Director Angela Mora. It's difficult for the city to get a hold of the people who have tested positive which makes the active cases difficult to track. The new number of 28 puts El Paso more in line with the method that other major cities in Texas are using. Of course, I understand why it's difficult for the city to get a hold of anyone because I know, at least for myself, if I don't recognize a phone number, I don't answer.