(CNSNews.com) - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are now counting “probable” along with confirmed cases and deaths from COVID-19 as of Tuesday.
According to the CDC website, the change was made “to reflect an interim COVID-19 position statement issued by the Council for State and Territorial Epidemiologists.”
A probable case or death is defined as “meeting clinical criteria AND epidemiologic evidence with no confirmatory laboratory testing” for the coronavirus or “meeting presumptive laboratory evidence AND either clinical criteria OR epidemiologic evidence or “meeting vital records criteria with no confirmatory laboratory testing performed.”
“As of April 14, 2020, CDC case counts and death counts include both confirmed and probable cases and deaths. This change was made to reflect an interim COVID-19 position statement issued by the Council for State and Territorial Epidemiologists on April 5, 2020. The position statement included a case definition and made COVID-19 a nationally notifiable disease,” the CDC website stated.
“A confirmed case or death is defined by meeting confirmatory laboratory evidence for COVID-19. A probable case or death is defined by i) meeting clinical criteria AND epidemiologic evidence with no confirmatory laboratory testing performed for COVID-19; or ii) meeting presumptive laboratory evidence AND either clinical criteria OR epidemiologic evidence; or iii) meeting vital records criteria with no confirmatory laboratory testing performed for COVID19,” it stated.
As of Thursday, there were 605,390 total cases and 24,582 total deaths in the United States including Guam, Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.