Renzo Downey
Gov. Ron DeSantis said he has heard people are receiving positive COVID-19 test results in the mail despite never having submitted a sample, raising questions about the reliability of some labs’ reporting.
At drive-thru testing sites, people have reportedly signed up for diagnostic tests but left before receiving a test because of long lines. In some cases, people have reportedly received positive test results despite never submitting a sample.
“If somebody’s just getting a test result without being swabbed, then what is that saying about some of the other stuff that’s going on?” DeSantis asked.
The Governor asked people who have had that happen to report details to his administration for investigation.
“I know every time a test is run, there’s a lot of money that goes to these labs — $100 a test,” he said. “But for that to come back positive when there was no specimen submitted, that is problematic, so I’ve heard it enough to be concerned about it.”
DeSantis also wants the Department of Health to identify COVID-19 fatalities that may have been wrongly identified.
An Orange County man died in a motorcycle accident, but health officials listed him as a COVID-19 death. DeSantis said that frustrated family members whose loved ones succumbed to complications from COVID-19 who now face questions about the validity of the state’s official COVID-19 death toll.
Per requirements from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state departments of health report all deaths among people who have the virus as a COVID-19 fatality.
“I think CDC was like, well, instead of us parsing this and trying to figure out, why not just include it and maybe go back and parse it later,” DeSantis said. “So I understand why they did it, but I think sometimes people see that and they get a little bit frustrated and they wonder, OK, come on, that’s not really what should be there.”
Those concerns mark DeSantis’ latest red flags.
In some testing batches, labs or hospitals have reported 100% positive results, indicating the labs are not reporting negative results. That has raised questions about the state’s positivity rate, which was 14.7% Sunday but 11.8% throughout the pandemic.
“If you’re going to use this percent positive as a metric, you kinda gotta get all the negatives there as well,”the Governor said.
9 comments
Sonja Fitch
July 20, 2020 at 3:32 pm
Every day your failures become even more mind blowing Duffus Desantis! Your incompetence is going to end up making the Putin loving scum traitor trump look bad! Hims going to tweet about you duffus Desantis ! It won’t be good! Lol
Dan
July 20, 2020 at 3:49 pm
The Common Cold is a COVID VIRUS… and it produces positive test results. Duh… Amazing the Flu which has up to 60,000 deaths a year goes down to ZERO? hmmm Even motorcycle deaths are counted as COVID 19 deaths, so their numbers don’t surprise me…
Dan Lanske
July 20, 2020 at 10:55 pm
Its not that hard to figure out. These labs, and hospitals are getting paid by Medicare, 2-3x what they get for a non-covid cases. There is major incentive to diagnose someone with Covid-19 when they don’t have it. Months from now (hopefully sooner), we will be reading stories about major fraud, waste, and abuse at these labs and hospitals. Hopefully some of them go to jail for ripping off the taxpayers
BlueHeron
July 20, 2020 at 11:39 pm
I am absolutely no fan of DeSantis and I criticize him frequently. Well deserved.
With regard to the positive test results received by some when no test was given, I can confirm this is absolutely happening.
Hester
July 21, 2020 at 7:47 am
I am a doctor, and I can confirm that I have been told of this, by numerous patients of mine.
I ask for a an inquiry into these testing labs and hospitals.
Anecdote is not evidence
July 21, 2020 at 8:42 am
There’s an Alachua County case where a guy was hit by lightning, fell off the roof, completely severed his spinal cord, fractured his skull in three places, went into a seizure, but tested positive for COVID. He’s included in the count. HOWEVER, if that’s 10% of the death toll (which is a stretch), there are still a hell of a lot people dying.
PeterH
July 21, 2020 at 2:59 pm
Let’s cut to the chase. Ron DeSantis and Rick Scott are eagerly grasping for the next dance ticket with the president of a failed incompetent administration.
Trump managed to bring back the 1918 Pandemic, the 1929 Depression and the 1968 Race Riots ALL AT THE SAME TIME!
Can we please all agree that this experiment of having a dumb TV host and corrupt real estate developer with six bankruptcies, five kids from three different marriages, eleven charges of sexual assault, and over 4000 lawsuits as president is not going well at all?
Let’s end the spin! The facts are clear Republican Trump apologist MUST be removed from office. Trumpism must be defeated everywhere.
jon
July 21, 2020 at 12:20 pm
The numbers are fake! So much fabricating going on that I don’t believe any numbers I hear! It’s being done all in the name of hating TRUMP!
James R. Miles
July 21, 2020 at 2:39 pm
I don’t believe ANYTHING that comes out of Trump’s mouth! He is the worlds biggest LIAR and BUFFOON! Keep drinking the cool-aid and see where that gets you!
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