Some Labs Failed To Report Negative Coronavirus Results: DeSantis

TALLAHASSEE, FL — An undisclosed number of private medical testing laboratories in recent days failed to report negative coronavirus test results, which may have skewed some of Florida's coronavirus data, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Department of Health acknowledged Wednesday.

"I don't think they were trying to be underhanded," DeSantis told reporters. "I think the percent positivity is a pretty good indicator, but you do have to weigh that against the fact that not all the negatives are there."

Florida health officials reported a positive test rate of 11 percent Wednesday as the number of tests administered in the state reached 2,739,169. The rate has steadily ticked upward for weeks.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported data related to the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. will now be collected by a private technology firm instead of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dr. Robert Redfield, the CDC director, told reporters Wednesday that the agency agreed to step out of the government’s traditional data collection process “in order to streamline reporting,”according to the Associated Press.

DeSantis also said some of the larger laboratories failed to timely report negative test results in April and May.

"They were submitting the positives quickly and then they would dump the negatives," DeSantis said.

Private and public laboratories are required to report both positive and negative test results to the state "immediately," according to a spokesperson for the Florida Department of Health.

"All COVID-19 cases are confirmed through diagnostic and antigen testing and then reported to the state by the labs performing the testing," the spokesperson said.

Health officials said they noticed in recent days that some of the smaller labs were not reporting the negative test results.

"The department immediately began working with those labs to ensure that all results were being reported in order to provide comprehensive and transparent data," the spokesperson said.

DeSantis said medical labs do not typically submit negative test results in the case of other illnesses.

"The law requires for a reportable illness that if someone tests positive it's reported," DeSantis explained. "We then said, I think in one of my executive orders, report the negatives too. That's how we look to see percent positive and try to evaluate."

He said the labs appear to have defaulted to their pre-coronavirus processes. "I think that's kind of what they were doing before this started," DeSantis said. "That was identified. I know they are going to start doing the negatives as well."

DeSantis said he still has confidence in Florida Surgeon Genereal Scott A. Rivkees, who also serves as the state health officer for the Department of Health.