A recent report is claiming that a lab company hired by the state to test for COVID-19 among high school athletes competing in winter sports failed to produce adequate results. | Pixabay
A recent report is claiming that a lab company hired by the state to test for COVID-19 among high school athletes competing in winter sports failed to produce adequate results. | Pixabay
A recent report is claiming that a lab company hired by the state to test for COVID-19 among high school athletes competing in winter sports failed to produce adequate results.
When parents relayed their concerns to school officials that their children tested negative, the rapid COVID-19 tests they took said otherwise.
“These parents were pretty adamant that their kid was not a case and that they could play,” Heather Kerwin, epidemiology program manager for the Washoe County Health District, told the Review Journal.
According to the news outlet, Chicago-based Northshore Clinical Labs meticulously went after customers being served by the state government only to provide tests that produced inconsistent results.
The state had an initiative that required unvaccinated athletes, along with those who frequently traveled, to be tested for COVID-19 on a weekly basis through a nasal swab that would produce quick results, however Northshore’s PCR tests were ultimately deemed ineffective.
According to Inspector Bradley Waples: “I want to let you know how frustrating it is to have my staff schedule their inspections only to have labs use previous directors to influence or pressure us into having businesses that they represent, jump ahead of others that are patiently waiting for their inspections.”
A ProPublica investigation concluded that the company failed to identify “96% of the positive cases from (a) university campus” and that the organization used political connections in order to secure the state testing contract.
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