Warning: Constant ABSPATH already defined in /home/flanews/public_html/wp-config.php on line 37
Capitol News Service » Blog Archive » State Hopes to Speed COVID Test Results and Improve Reporting

Welcome to

Capitol News Service

Florida's Best Political Coverage on Television

 


 


 


Recent Posts

RSS Quote of the Day

  • Arthur C. Clarke
    "The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible."
  • Abraham Lincoln
    "You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today."
  • Jean de La Fontaine
    "Man is so made that when anything fires his soul, impossibilities vanish."
  • Andre Gide
    "Be faithful to that which exists within yourself."

State Hopes to Speed COVID Test Results and Improve Reporting

July 16th, 2020 by Jake Stofan

Florida is looking to get COVID-19 test results faster and ensure labs are properly reporting results.

It’s not uncommon for people to wait a week or more to find out if they’ve tested negative and if they do, some labs have been failing to report those negative results to the state.

Sophia Caballero got tested for COVID-19 after riding in a car with a friend who tested positive.

“They told me within two to seven days I would get my results and so I just kept checking and checking and I got my results the very last day,” said Caballero.

Thankfully, she tested negative.

But that extended wait time isn’t just an annoyance for those being tested, it also muddies daily case numbers.

“Because if I get results today and I see a case, that’s somebody who very well may have been infected two weeks ago at this point,” said Governor Ron DeSantis.

The Governor plans to send more tests to labs that prove they can return results quickly.

“Those who can produce are going to get more of the business,” said DeSantis.

He also said special lanes will be available at major testing sites for those showing symptoms.

“And so this way you’re getting your results back, we hope within 72 hours instead of seven days,” said DeSantis.

Speeding up turn around times will help paint a better picture of what’s going on in real time.

The state is also working to improve the accuracy of its positivity rates.

Hundreds of labs were found to not be reporting negative results.

“I don’t think they were trying to be underhanded, those labs. I think that’s kind of what they were doing before this started and so that was identified and I know they’re going to start doing the negatives as well,” said DeSantis.

It’s not clear how many tests are missing, but in order to lower the overall positivity rate by even 1 percent, we calculated it would take about 400,000 additional negative results.

DOH is working to collect the missing test results.

It sent an email to labs Tuesday clarifying the need to report both positive and negative results.

Posted in State News | No Comments »

Comments are closed.

copyright © 2016 by Capitol News Service | Powered by Wordpress | Hosted by LyonsHost.com