Florida to investigate alleged COVID test result mix-ups

Coronavirus testing questions

Imagine getting a call being told you have tested positive for the coronavirus but you never took the test in the first place. There are reports of this happening in Florida and Gov. Ron DeSantis addressed the claims on Monday.

ORLANDO, Fla. - How does someone test positive for coronavirus if they have never been tested? Reports of this happening have been pouring into FOX 35 News since we began investigating COVID-19 data.

People are claiming, they went to get tested but for various reasons, had to leave before they were swabbed.

“For that to come back positive, when there was no specimen submitted, is problematic, so I’ve heard it enough to be concerned about it,” said Governor Ron DeSantis, State of Florida, “I asked the Department of Health to look at that because I heard it too if you can give us, if people that have told you that are willing to provide their name, we’re interested in investigating this because it’s ridiculous.”

Dr. Jay Wolfson, Senior Associate Dean at the University of South Florida’s Morsani College of Medicine, thinks he knows what may be the problem. Remember, every person we spoke to says they got out of line before being tested.

“I’ve got to go someplace else [hypothetically], I’ve got an appointment, I’ve got to do something, I have a dentist appointment, I’ve got to pick up my kid and I leave the line, so Robert [hypothetically] is behind me, so Robert gets reclassified perhaps as number fifteen and they mistakenly put your name in that slot and they probably figure it out after one or two and say we got it wrong, we think we did, so they catch up but one or two people wind up getting somebody else’s test results,” said Dr. Wolfson.

Dr. Wolfson believes the testing system needs to be improved.

“It’s a moving system and if you miss something, it’s not mechanized and lots of hands are touching the test kits and the pads and the boxes they go in, so there’s room for error,” said Dr. Wolfson.

We asked Dr. Wolfson if he thinks the testing system is a little lax right now, as we’re talking about a serious diagnosis for some people.

“Sometimes it takes a bit of a shock and for people like you, Robert, to report on it and say, folks, do you know that you’re being a bit too lax, you need to put in place another system, within your system to protect yourself and patients and that’s how they learn as they go,” said Dr. Wolfson.

We’re working to get the State a list of names of people who got the wrong test results.

If you’re one of them, reach out to us, so we can help the State identify and fix the problem.