State health officials using new method to track COVID-19 cases

Box said this will give the state a better idea of how COVID is spreading.

Of tracking positive covid-19 cases.

The positivity rate was calculated based on unique individuals.

That means if someone was tested repeatedly, they only counted the person once.

Health commissioner dr. kristina box says it was the right approach initially.

She says that's because they weren't seeing people tested multiple times when the pandemic began.

Now they are calculating it based on the number of positive cases divided by the number of tests.

Box says this will give the state a better idea of how covid is spreading.

"as we've observed the metrics other states are sharing, we saw that adding this additional calculation will allow us to more accurately compare ourselves to other states."

Box says they are still using both methods to find the trend of positive cases.

She says each way it's calculated has the same outcome.

The latest usda crop report shows the affects of covid-19 on farming.

Soybean prices