LAKE COUNTY RESIDENTS AMONG 25,000 AFFECTED BY COVIDE-19 TESTING DELAYS & RELIABILITY

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A third-party lab created long delays in local COVID-19 testing which impacted more than 25,000 people throughout Central Florida.  AdventHealth terminated the lab's contract and expressed no confidence in the reliability of the tests. 
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AdventHealth uses nationally accredited, third-party labs across multiple states to process COVID-19 tests for communities.   One of the labs processing a large number of their tests for Lake, Flager and Volusia counties has been unable to fulfill its obligation, according to AdventHealth.  

 “We share in the disappointment and frustration this situation has created. We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience and uncertainty it has caused,” stated a press release issued by AdventHealth.  

The healthcare organization expressed that it’s working diligently to notify and accommodate people impacted.  Affected individuals will be notified by mail (and possibly phone) and fall into two categories:
Those whose samples were processed, and whose results provided by the lab 

• Individuals who had unreliable positive results will require retesting
• Individuals with unreliable negative results who are symptomatic need to seek care and may require retesting.
• Individuals with unreliable negative results who are asymptomatic but request to be retested will be offered testing pending availability.   

Those whose samples are at the lab in question and are part of the backlog will not be tested.  Therefore no result will be available. 

• These patients may require retesting if they are symptomatic.
• AdventHealth directed the lab to destroy these samples in accordance with the law.  

If someone is experiencing COVID-19 symptoms they should seek care immediately.

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