Nearly a hundred people in Connecticut who received positive coronavirus tests didn’t actually have the disease, reports said.
A total of 90 out of 144 people tested between June 15 and July 17, many of whom are nursing home residents, received the false positives because of a flaw in the test used at the state’s public health laboratory, NBC Connecticut reported.
State officials said the test manufacturer, the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Public Health have all been notified about the snafu and immediate steps were taken to ensure patients were notified, the outlet reported.
“We have notified the healthcare facilities for everyone who received a false positive test result from our state laboratory,” said Acting Commissioner Deidre S. Gifford from the state’s department of social services.
“Accurate and timely testing for the novel coronavirus is one of the pillars supporting effective response to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Officials said the bad results came “from a widely-used laboratory testing platform that the state laboratory started using on June 15,” the outlet reported.
Gifford said changes are already underway “to ensure the accuracy of future test results from this platform.”
Moving forward, all positive coronavirus results will undergo further analysis from multiple scientists and if necessary, specimens will be retested using an alternate method, the outlet said.
Nursing home residents who received the false positive will be retested as soon as possible, the state’s department of health said, according to the outlet.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/nypost...-lab-botches-dozens-of-coronavirus-tests/amp/
A total of 90 out of 144 people tested between June 15 and July 17, many of whom are nursing home residents, received the false positives because of a flaw in the test used at the state’s public health laboratory, NBC Connecticut reported.
State officials said the test manufacturer, the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Public Health have all been notified about the snafu and immediate steps were taken to ensure patients were notified, the outlet reported.
“We have notified the healthcare facilities for everyone who received a false positive test result from our state laboratory,” said Acting Commissioner Deidre S. Gifford from the state’s department of social services.
“Accurate and timely testing for the novel coronavirus is one of the pillars supporting effective response to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Officials said the bad results came “from a widely-used laboratory testing platform that the state laboratory started using on June 15,” the outlet reported.
Gifford said changes are already underway “to ensure the accuracy of future test results from this platform.”
Moving forward, all positive coronavirus results will undergo further analysis from multiple scientists and if necessary, specimens will be retested using an alternate method, the outlet said.
Nursing home residents who received the false positive will be retested as soon as possible, the state’s department of health said, according to the outlet.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/nypost...-lab-botches-dozens-of-coronavirus-tests/amp/
