Rise in ‘at-home’ COVID tests could skew case counts, experts say

(CNN) – It’s a lot easier these days to get “at-home” COVID-19 tests, but many of those test results are not being reported, leading to a drastic undercount of cases.

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation estimates only 7% of positive COVID-19 cases in the U.S. are now being detected.

That would mean case rates are actually more than 14 times higher than officially reported.

While cases have been undercounted throughout the pandemic, some states, including Ohio and New York, no longer use positivity rates in the fight against COVID.

The CDC is now emphasizing hospitalization rates over case counts.

To get a more reliable count of COVID-19 cases, the National Institute of Health is now working with laboratories to help streamline easier ways to report test results.