Coronavirus: Lab error could have resulted in false positives in Peterborough, City of Kawartha Lakes

Peterborough Public Health and the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit says they’re concerned some test results for the coronavirus may have been falsely positive after a laboratory in Ottawa reported a technical error.

Both health units say Bio-Test Laboratories in Ottawa notified it Friday of a “technical” error. They say that resulted in a decision by the lab to reject all 94 COVID-19 positive test results performed last week.

Of that total, 22 were specimens collected from Peterborough Public Health.

Public Health Ontario is aware of the situation and has discontinued, for now, sending any more specimens to BioTest Laboratories for coronavirus testing, the health unit stated.

“Peterborough Public Health has been significantly impacted by this lab event,” said Dr. Rosana Salvaterra, Peterborough Public Health’s medical officer of health. “Our staff has worked swiftly to ensure those impacted are informed and retested as we want to resolve this as quickly as possible.”

Salvaterra explained that 22 of 27 positive cases reported for the period of April 22 to 29 were processed at BioTest and will now require further testing to determine their validity.

LISTEN: Dr. Rosana Salvaterra explains the lab error

The health unit notes that during that time, one individual died.

“Peterborough Public Health will engage Public Health Ontario’s guidance and support for any potential changes to our COVID-19 reporting,” the health unit said in a statement issued Friday afternoon.

Salvaterra said it marked the first time they had received results from BioTest.

“For some we may never really know for certain whether they were truly infected,” she said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "For some we may never really know for certain whether they were truly infected," she said.

The health unit says it has contacted the other 21 individuals to advise them of the potential error and recommended they be retested. This will also impact the close contacts of these cases.

The health unit recommends that anyone identified as a close contact continue their isolation and self-monitoring until the results of the retesting have been received. All contacts can expect to hear from a health unit public health nurse for further guidance.

“There is no reason to question the validity of any negative results from BioTest,” the health unit stated.

On Friday the health unit reported 86 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in its jurisdiction, which includes the City of Peterborough, Curve Lake, Hiawatha First Nation and Peterborough County.

UPDATE:

The Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health reports a lab error at BioTest have resulted in false positive COVID-19 results for 13 specimens from staff and residents of two long-term care homes in the City of Kawartha Lakes.

The positive results received prompted the health unit to declare COVID-19 outbreaks in Case Manor in Bobcaygeon and Adelaide Place in Lindsay. The 13 individuals have been notified of the questionable test results and additional testing is being conducted immediately. The swabs are being sent to a different lab and test results are expected this weekend, the health unit said.

“While we hope these cases actually do test negative, this error and misdiagnosis is very unfortunate for the individuals and their families,” stated Dr. Lynn Noseworthy, the health unit’s medical officer of health. “Many of these individuals live in Bobcaygeon and we know how devastating COVID-19 has been for that community already, so we are hopeful we will receive some good news with the new test results and can lift our outbreak declaration at these long-term care homes.”

This reporting error will also impact the close contacts of these cases. The health unit recommends that anyone identified as a close contact of these individuals should continue their isolation and self-monitoring until the results of the retesting have been received. All contacts can expect to hear from a public health nurse for further guidance.