DeSantis “concerned” after people who weren’t tested for COVID-19 receive positive results

Governor DeSantis says he’s concerned about the accuracy of COVID-19 test results.

In a news conference Monday, he said there have been several cases where people received positive results, even though they had never been tested in the first place.

“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 DeSantis.

Fox 4 has also received reports of this happening. People have said they submitted their contact information at a COVID-19 testing site, but after seeing how long the line was, they decided not to wait an hour or more to get the test. Nevertheless, a few days later, they got an email or a phone call telling them that they tested positive.

Representatives we spoke with at the Centurylink Sports Complex testing site say false positives aren’t possible there, because of how they have it set up.

The Florida Department of Health says, at Centurylink, you submit your contact information right before you get tested. So if somebody were to get out of line, they wouldn’t have had the chance to hand over their phone number or email.

But not all testing sites are the same.

We reached out to Lee Health, which operates several testing sites of its own. Those sites operate by appointment only, and they do take contact info beforehand, but Lee Health says it has not yet had any issues with mixed up results, and it takes several steps to make sure the results get to the right person.

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