my wife had It explained in her weekly Houston Area emergency response team updates. There is no way to tie a positive test to a specific record if there is not a doctor's office or hospital managing the patient file. The number of positive tests are being reported by the testing facilities and they have no way of tying to a specific patient file. A single person could be tested by several different facilities and each positive test would be considered a "case"
That is not accurate. The testing data is being recorded by name, address, and date of birth to Texas Health Trace. It's then sent back to the counties to be cross checked again. Duplicates are identified and not double counted. Though I am sure errors are made, it's minimal.
Here's a screenshot of a local county identifying duplicates in their spreadsheet.
View attachment 17077
Here's a link to an article from NBC DFW debunking it.
https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/coronavirus/how-are-covid-19-numbers-collected-and-are-they-duplicated/2416120/
Above is a video from an Austin TV station addressing it.
I am not doubting what your wife was told, just the accuracy. Do they screw it up... Sure. How much? I don't know. The bigger issue is the accuracy at a county level. When addresses are collected from test takers it may or may not include a county. So in Houston, Harris county is ending up with Fort Bend or Montgomery county cases attributed to it by the state.
There is confusion over permanent residency. If you are in Mississippi and test positive, but live in Texas... Where does it get recorded.
But overall, double counting for a single person taking multiple tests is not being overlooked. It may be getting fouled up.