Chesco Antibody Test Program Examined, County Advised On Policy

CHESTER COUNTY, PA — Reports from two reviews of Chester County's 2020 antibody procurement from Advaite early in the pandemic found no criminal conduct but offered policy recommendations for emergency response.

Attorney Ray McGarry told Chester County's Board of Commissioners on Jan. 21 that his office's review found that "nobody acted inappropriately at any time. There was nothing criminal or unethical in the way any County Employee conducted themselves in connection with the Advaite matter."

McGarry emphasized that county administration and staff were "dealing with an unprecedented situation. Obviously, none of the key players had ever been involved in an emergency on the scale of a world-wide pandemic."

In May, Chester County offered coronavirus antibody tests to all essential workers, then other groups, but later found the tests were inaccurate, with a suspiciously high number of positives.

Chester County issued a statement in September 2020 explaining what happened and why the county did not promptly issue a blanket communication that would have alerted those with positive antibody results of the likelihood of error. The health department's statement said that the health team spent two weeks in May trying to identify the cause of the inaccurate results, and after that time, all the people who'd had those false positives had seen doctors and were likely out of quarantine.

Chester Springs biotech company Advaite mades the blood sample tests, which intend to detect antibodies a person has produced to fight off the coronavirus. The county spent millions of dollars of federal pandemic aid for the failed testing plan that rolled out late in May.

Chester County is suing Advaite to recoop its losses.

McGarry said last week, "It was a fast-paced, emergent, and constantly changing and evolving situation in which we believe everyone involved worked with the best interests of the County and its citizens in mind."

On Sept. 16, the Chester County Health Department posted a long statement on its website, under Civic Alerts, titled "Chester County Statement Regarding COVID-19 Antibody Testing."

McGarry identified some suggestions for policies and procedures that his reviewers thought could improve some of the systems in place currently, including centralizing procurement procedures and creating a comprehensive purchasing policy that includes due diligence requirements be put in place for new vendors.

In the Jan. 21 meeting, he said, "We believe the procurement of goods and services for the County should be more centralized."

McGarry said, "All purchasing should come from the purchasing department, including sourcing, due diligence, obtaining quotes, running RFPs, and Invitation to Bid processes."

He also recommended regular reviews of contracts by the county solicitor. He said no contract should go out without a solicitor's office review.

"There needs to be clear instruction about whether a purchase should be by Contract or By Purchase Order," he added.

The review also made recommendations for the Declaration of Emergency, telling the county it needs a clear understanding "about who is 'essential' to run county government during an emergency."

"In situations where a part of the emergency includes the emergency procurement of goods and services, the folks in the procurement department should be essential," McGarry told commissioners.

The revies brought recommendations about Health Emergency management. McGarry told commissioners there should be a written policy and clear procedures as to how to integrate and coordinate the work of the Health Department and the Department of Emergency Services.

He called for "clearly defined roles and reporting structure. The policy should clearly define who has decision-making authority in certain situations."

The review advised the county to "Consider making the Public Health Physician of the County Health Department a full -time position."

A second review by Chester County Controller Margaret Reif also stated that no criminal or fraudulent activity was found.

"The early stages of the pandemic involved supply chain pandemonium," said Reif. She said the situation was very challenging and the county was working under timeline pressure.

"The internal controller's office audit is being conducted with this in mind," she added.

Chester County Board of Commissioners Chair Marian Moskowitz said in the meeting, after the reviewers spoke, "While it was a crazy, crazy time, we need to make sure this is brought to the public. We need to move quickly on this."

Related past stories can be read here and here.