Lab errors on 35 COVID-19 tests
Local patients being retested after false positive results feared
A technical lab error has resulted in the rejection of positive COVID-19 test results from 22 Peterborough area residents, Peterborough Public Health announced Friday afternoon, plus another 13 in the City of Kawartha Lakes.
The 22 local specimens were among 94 tests that have been rejected by BioTest Laboratories in Ottawa after a technical error was discovered by the lab.
“Peterborough Public Health has been significantly impacted by this lab event,” stated medical officer of health Dr. Rosana Salvaterra.
“Our staff has worked swiftly to ensure those impacted are informed and retested as we want to resolve this as quickly as possible.”
Another 13 specimens from staff and residents at two City of Kawartha Lakes long-term care homes, Case Manor in Bobcaygeon and Adelaide Place in Lindsay, were also among the now rejected positive test results.
Those positive results had prompted the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit to declare outbreaks at Case Manor and at Adelaide Place.
All the patients were notified and additional testing was conducted. The swabs from those 13 patients have been sent to a different lab and new test results are expected this weekend.
“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, medical officer of health for the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit.
“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.”
Peterborough Public Health was informed of the error by the lab on Friday. The health unit has stopped using the lab.
“There is a concern that these results may have been falsely positive,” health unit spokesperson Brittany Cadence stated.
Peterborough had seen a surge in positive cases over the past week after it had appeared to be levelling off last week.
Of the 27 positive cases between April 22 and 29, 22 were processed at BioTest Laboratories.
The health unit has advised 21 of the 22 people of the potential error and is recommending that they get retested.
False positive test results also have an impact on the close contacts of those who had been tested positive by the Ottawa lab. Close contacts are being urged by the health unit to continue their isolation and selfmonitoring until results from the retesting come in.
The health unit says it’s not a
concern for those who have tested negative. The health unit advises that “there is no reason to question the validity of any negative results from BioTest.” The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Peterborough city and county and Curve Lake and Hiawatha First Nations increased by one to 87, Peterborough Public Health reported Friday afternoon.
Of those, there have been three deaths and 44 of the cases have been resolved.
The health unit also released figures that as of Tuesday, 2,798 tests have now come back negative while another 829 were awaiting test results as of Tuesday.
The health unit has now tested 3,713 people so far during the pandemic.
There continues to be outbreaks at St. Joseph’s at Fleming long-term care home, Extendicare Lakefield long-term care home, St. John’s Seniors Centre, Peterborough Retirement Residence and Empress Gardens Retirement Residence.
The Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit reported one more confirmed case in the City of Kawartha Lakes on Friday afternoon at 138 cases, but 101 of them have now been resolved.
There have also been 13 cases in Northumberland County and seven in Haliburton County, but all of them have been resolved for awhile now.
Pinecrest Nursing Home in Bobcaygeon reported Friday that most of the residents of the 65-bed long-term care home have now tested negative twice for the virus.
More testing needs to be done next week by the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit before the outbreak can be declared over, Pinecrest administrator Mary Carr said.
The outbreak was one of the worst in Canada, with the deaths of 28 residents plus the wife of one of the residents. But there has not been any more deaths since April 9.
“I want to thank the community again for their unwavering support during this time,” Carr stated.
“The kindness that has been shown to our staff and residents has contributed in a very real way to our ability to get through this together.”
As of Friday, 29 inmates at the Warkworth Institution medium-security federal prison east of Peterborough have been tested and all have tested negative for the virus.