There are two sets of data.
1. Number of tests and how many tests each day test positive. A person can be in that data set multiple times.
2. Number of cases. A person that is positive multiple times will only be counted as one case.
I am not going to look up every state.
Louisiana
https://kpel965.com/answered-is-every-positive-covid-19-test-counted-as-a-new-case/
KPEL News reached out to the Louisiana Department of Health Office of Public Health Region 4 Medical Director Dr. Tina Stefanski with this simple question:
Do multiple positive tests for the same person add to the case count every time?
We got a quick response from Dr. Stefanski:
While individuals may be tested multiple times (and in some instances are positive over many days so may have more than one positive test result), our method only acknowledges the case ONCE. There is a review process to identify and remove duplicate lab reports.
Oregon
https://www.kgw.com/article/news/verify/verify-is-each-positive-test-counted-as-a-new-covid-19-test/283-fd567c89-7c08-4d00-8308-30f967026429
PORTLAND, Oregon — KGW continues to get questions related to COVID-19 testing and data, including how the state comes up with its daily numbers.
Viewer Colleen Fletcher asked KGW's Verify team this question via email:
"I have a friend insisting that some states are counting positive COVID-19 tests as positive cases. So, if one person gets 4 positive tests, that counts as 4 cases. Can you verify one way or the other?"
The claim about multiple tests being counted multiple times has been going around on social media for months now.
Doctors with the Oregon Health Authority said multiple positive tests from the same person do not count as multiple new cases.
"In Oregon, we're are counting people not the number of tests. So each person can only count as one positive test," said an epidemilogist with OHA during a recent Facebook Live Q and A. "So, when we say that there are, for example, 10 new cases in a specific county, these are new people diagnosed with COVID-19."
DC, Maryland, Virginia, CDC
https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/verify/verify-dmv-coronavirus-data-multiple-positive-tests-same-person-only-counted-once/65-b9d45011-aed7-4e85-8b29-9a0417650cec
WASHINGTON — QUESTION:
Do two positive tests for the same person count as two cases?
ANSWER:
No. Each person who tests positive is counted as one case, regardless of how many times he or she takes a test that returns positive.
A viewer emailed the team and asked us to Verify whether two positive tests for the same person count as two cases. Our sources were the CDC and the D.C., Maryland and Virginia Health Departments.
The CDC puts out lots of data, including the total number of positive tests reported to them and the total number of cases. As of 12:15 p.m. on July 22, there were 4,653,438 positive tests and 3,882,167 cases reported to the CDC, according to the agency's COVID Data Tracker.
You'll notice the two numbers are different.
"The number of positive tests in a state is not equal to the number of cases, as one person may be tested more than once,” the CDC said online.
Our researchers then contacted the health departments in D.C., Maryland and Virginia to see how they report their data.
They all confirmed that someone who tests positive is only counted as a case once. They do also track the number of tests taken, but that’s a separate statistic.
NC
https://wlos.com/news/news-13-investigates/how-are-positive-covid-19-cases-recorded-if-a-person-is-tested-more-than-once
A spokesperson said:
In the total of laboratory-confirmed cases, each person is counted only once. If a person tested positive more than once (for example, if they were using the test-based criteria for discontinuation of isolation and had 3 total positive tests), they would be included in our case count only once."
Wisconsin
https://www.nbc15.com/2020/07/15/your-positive-covid-19-test-wont-count-more-than-once/
Health officials say no matter how many times you receive a positive COVID-19 test result, it will only be counted for the first day you tested positive.
Mississippi
https://msdh.ms.gov/msdhsite/_static/14,0,420.html
About our case counts: We currently update our case totals each day based on test results from the previous day. Outside laboratories also report positive test results to us, which are included in our totals. Repeated tests for the same individual are counted only once. County case numbers and deaths may change as investigation finds new or additional information.
Rhode Island pdf
• About these data: This number represents the total number of unique people who have
tested positive. Although one person may be tested multiple times, a person is only included
in this count once. (For example, if someone tests positive and continues to test positive, they
are not counted again because this is considered the same case. A person is reflected in the
count on the date of their first positive test.)
Minnesota
https://www.kare11.com/article/news/verify/verify-multiple-covid-19-tests-are-not-counted-as-multiple-covid-19-cases-in-minnesota/89-e0d30ae7-920f-4deb-8b4c-6ddea82999a0
We reached out to Doug Schultz with the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) with this question. He told us that while positive tests and confirmed COVID-19 cases are both tracked, they're done separately.
If a person were to get tested twice and test positive twice, those tests would both be tallied in the MDH count of tests performed nationwide. One of the purposes of this tracking is to measure the state's testing capacity, and show health officials how accurate of a picture they have of COVID-19 spread across the state.
However, a person who gets two positive tests is not counted as two separate cases. They would only be entered into the daily "new cases" count once - unless they got those tests more than three months apart, per guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Texas
https://www.gchd.org/about-us/news-and-events/2019-novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov
A positive case is counted only once. Some positive cases are tested again as a way to deem them recovered per the CDC. Those additional tests are not counted.