ORLANDO, Fla. — More than 25,000 people in Central Florida may have to be retested for COVID-19 because of problems AdventHealth has had with a third-party lab handling the tests.
AdventHealth said they worked with several nationally-accredited third-party labs to handle the demand for tests, but one of the labs didn't meet its obligation, according to the company. They said that in addition to the delays created, AdventHealth does not have confidence in the reliability of the tests.
AdventHealth says the more than 25,000 people affected will receive a letter, and may also get a phone call.
They fall into two categories:
- Those whose tests were processed, and who results were deemed not reliable
- Those whose samples are part of a backlog at the lab and there are no results
If your results are deemed unreliable, and you were deemed positive for COVID-19, you will need to be retested. Those with unreliable negative tests who have symptoms need to seek care and may be retested, while those who are asymptomatic can be retested if they wish.
Tests that are part of the backlog will be destroyed, in accordance with the law.
AdventHealth says if you have symptoms of coronavirus, you should seek care immediately.
In addition to testing available at CentraCare and hospital locations, AdventHealth hosted several drive-thru testing facilities.
Tanya Rezak of Orlando was one of the patients who visited an AdventHealth testing site and did not get her results back.
Rezak said she was having upper respiratory symptoms for weeks.
"Because I have aging parents who are vulnerable, I wanted to rule out COVID," she said.
Rezak said she decided to get tested on May 5 at the Mall at Millenia AdventHealth testing site.
"I was told by the nurses it would be 3-5 days to get the result," Rezak said.
That quick turnaround did not happen, she said. After phone calls back and forth trying to get her results, Rezak said she found out on Twitter her results aren't coming in.
"They should have found a different lab to complete the test, contacted us individually to reschedule in some way. It was extremely unprofessional to get the news the way that I did," Rezak said.
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