HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The Connecticut Department of Public Health announced Monday the state’s public health laboratory has discovered a flaw in one of the testing systems it uses to test for the coronavirus, resulting in 90 out of 144 people – many of them nursing home residents — recently receiving a false positive test.
DPH said medical providers and all affected patients, who were tested between June 15 and July 17, have been notified. The state has also reported the flaw to the testing manufacturer and to the federal Food and Drug Administration. In a written statement, the agency said the exact cause of the false positive results is still being investigated.
Any nursing home resident that had a false positive COVID-19 test result will be retested as soon as possible, DPH said.
“Accurate and timely testing for the novel coronavirus is one of the pillars supporting effective response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Acting ‘DPH Commissioner Deidre S. Gifford, adding that “adjustments have already been made to ensure the accuracy of future test results from this platform.”
A news release issued by the agency did not identify the particular testing system, only describing it as “widely used” and one the state laboratory started using June 15. DPH said “to ensure accuracy moving forward” all positive results will be further analyzed by multiple laboratory scientists and possibly retested using another method.
A news conference concerning the situation was planned for 2 p.m.
DPH said the false positive test results were discovered by DPH laboratory scientists while examining previously positive samples to determine the feasibility of testing “pooled” specimens at the state lab.
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