(WTAJ) — A laboratory widely used in our state by the Department of Health and healthcare providers for COVID-19 testing is being questioned on their accuracy.
This comes as the Florida State Department of Health cut ties with the lab, Quest Diagnostics, after it mistakenly delayed reporting the results of nearly 75,000 Coronavirus tests to the state.
Quest Diagnostics is a national medical laboratory used throughout the country for COVID-19 testing capabilities. It’s also one of two laboratories doing the bulk of commercial testing in Pennsylvania.
While there have been delays in reporting in the past, the department said it has not had any concerns of missing or inaccurate data from Quest Diagnostics. Instead, it said the lag could be from how many people are getting tested.
In a statement to WTAJ, Pennsylvania Department of Health stated:
“We know that as Pennsylvania has added numerous public testing sites, we can experience a lag of reporting cases from over the weekend would likely not show up for several days, between the incubation period and the time it takes for a lab test to occur, and then get results back to the department. This includes the work by Quest.”
UPMC also has a partnership with Quest for analysis COVID-19 tests. All specimens collected at the site in Altoona are sent to Quest’s remote lab in Pittsburgh, which has been the case since opening in March.
When asked about the possibility of delayed results, UPMC said:
“In July, Quest informed UPMC that, given soaring demand for testing, it was taking them and many other labs several days to report results. However, that delay in reporting has since been rectified.”
As for how this happened in Florida, Quest stated it was a technical error from a lack of information needed by public health agencies. The company worked to get the missing information and updated their internal system, which is not connected to the Florida DOH or its system. Once employees realized there were 75,000 missing cases, they said they immediately updated the appropriate public health authorities.