A flaw in a Covid test manufactured by Thermo Fisher Scientific, and used by labs across the U.S., is causing false positive test results – results that show a patient has Covid when they do not.
Department of Public Health scientists in Connecticut discovered the flaw in tests. So far 90 people, mostly residents of Connecticut nursing homes and assisted living facilities, have received false positive results.
But those false results are having potentially dire consequences.
Connecticut guidelines call for nursing home residents who test positive for Covid to be quarantined together. Health officials are now reviewing whether residents who received false positive results were grouped with residents with accurate positive results, potentially exposing them to the virus.
“We don’t know that yet,” said Josh Geballe, Gov. Ned Lamont’s chief operating officer, adding that state health officials have been speaking to clinicians and facilities, compiling data on the situation
This is not the first time positive Covid19 results have been called into question.
We covered Florida testing facilities that were reporting positivity rates of 100%, as well as individuals who are listed as Covid19 fatalities even their cause of death is unrelated.
Photo by Cynthia Griggs