LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – UK Healthcare says it has identified more than two dozen COVID-19 tests that were actually a false positive.
A hospital press release says the problem was with a software glitch.
The discovery was made on July 16 when UK laboratory scientists were reviewing raw data from Thermo Fisher, one of its four test partners.
UK employees were concerned about “discrepancies between the raw data and the interpretation of the software that could lead to false positives,” according to the statement.
Since the discovery, all positive COVID-19 samples analyzed with Thermo Fisher have been retested. Negative test results did not change, but it was confirmed that 26 positive tests were actually negative.
The hospital said everyone who received a false-positive result is being notified.
The Thermo Fisher test rig has only been used by the UK since June 27.
“The UK clinical laboratory has performed more than 30,000 COVID-19 tests since March and only a very small percentage of the tests have been affected by this software defect,” said Dr Mark Newman, Executive Vice President, Affairs UK Health.
Copyright 2020 WKYT. All rights reserved.
.
