Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered the Florida Department of Health to no longer work with Quest Diagnostics after the lab violated state law and failed to report nearly 75,000 coronavirus tests that date back to April in a timely manner.
Despite the backlog, all patients who were tested were notified about their results, according to the health department.
“To drop this much unusable and stale data is irresponsible,” DeSantis said in a statement. “I believe that Quest has abdicated their ability to perform a testing function in Florida that the people can be confident in. As such I am directing all executive agencies to sever their COVID-19 testing relationships with Quest effective immediately.”
Most of the data was more than two weeks old, with some cases dating back nearly five months, the health department said.
Florida Dept. of Health says they are severing all ties with Quest Diagnostics after Quest failed to report 75,000 COVID test results dating back to April. Quest says all individuals who were positive were notified, but state says they were never given the data.
— Brian Entin (@BrianEntin) September 1, 2020
Florida says it is cutting ties with Quest Diagnostics after the company failed to report nearly 75,000 COVID-19 test results, some as far back as April. It includes 3,870 positive cases. pic.twitter.com/8xXSN8bk15
— BNO News (@BNOFeed) September 1, 2020
