WA Sues COVID Testing Centers Over 'Invalid And False' Results

OLYMPIA, WA — Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson has announced a lawsuit against the Illinois-based Center for COVID Control, alleging the company's testing centers have been providing "invalid, false and delayed COVID-19 test results" to Washingtonians— that is, if they gave back results at all.

The Center for COVID Control (CCC), which at its peak operated over 300 testing sites across the country and over a dozen across Puget Sound, has been under fire since mid-January, when Washington, Oregon, Massachusetts and California all began investigating the company after receiving complaints about the way it handled its tests. In response to the investigations, CCC paused all operations starting Jan. 13. All 300+ centers remain closed.

According to the Attorney General's Office (AGO), CCC promised customers COVID-19 test results within 15 minutes with a rapid antigen test, or within two days for a PCR test. However, because the company couldn't actually process the 8,000 to 10,000 COVID tests it received each day, employees starting storing tests in garbage bags, sometimes for weeks.

In AGO interviews, CCC employees told investigators they often backdated these "stale" samples so they could still be processed, which resulted in potentially thousands of Washingtonians receiving false negatives.

"Testing samples can only keep for so long — a lab manager for the company reported that beyond three days, a sample is invalid," the agency said in a news release. "The company’s Director of Operations instructed employees to start falsely post-dating samples to make them appear more recent than they actually were, and submit them for testing anyway so the company could potentially still bill insurance companies or the federal government for the tests."

The AGO says, all told, Center for COVID Control has billed the federal government more than $124 million for testing uninsured patients— though it also frequently claimed patients were uninsured, even if they did present valid insurance.

“Center for COVID Control contributed to the spread of COVID-19 when it provided false negative results,” Attorney General Bob Ferguson said. “These sham testing centers threatened the health and safety of our communities. They must be held accountable.”

Investigators even spoke with one Everett victim, who was told that CCC employees "lost" her test shortly after taking it.

“Two hours after taking my second COVID-19 test, I still had not received a result from the Center for COVID Control," the interviewee said. "An employee told me that they could not find my sample again. However, one minute after being told my second test was lost, I received an email from the testing site telling me my COVID-19 test was negative.”

Concerned, the woman reportedly took a third COVID-19 test that same day at a Washington Department of Health-sanctioned testing site. There, her results came back COVID-positive.

One of the first red flags surrounding the operation appeared in Lakewood, when City Communications Manager Jim Kopriva discovered the local CCC outfit was operating without a business license.

"From the city's perspective, when a business is collecting thousands of our resident's personal information, conducting this vital testing at the height of this pandemic, and they can't be bothered with a 73 dollar business license, that was of grave concern," Kopriva told Patch.

Kopriva said the CCC testing site had been operating for quite some time, and likely gathered data from hundreds of residents, if not more.

"I've heard of this place, residents have been tested there and just like anyone else, I didn't think anything of it," Kopriva said.

After ordering the center to shut down, the City of Lakewood notified the local health department, FBI, and the Attorney General's Office (AGO). Now, after investigating Lakewood's complaint, the AGO says that — out of the 13 CCC testing sites in Lakewood, Tacoma, University Place, Seattle, Bellevue, Auburn, Lynnwood, Everett, Port Orchard and Yakima — only the Yakima location had a proper business license.

"Defendants threatened the health and safety of the people of Washington and engaged in unfair or deceptive acts or practices in violation of the Consumer Protection Act, RCW 19.86, while operating COVID-19 testing sites throughout Washington without municipal business licenses to do so," the complaint opens.

Ferguson's lawsuit, filed Monday in King County Superior Court, alleges that the company violated the Consumer Protection Act by failing to deliver customers prompt, valid and accurate test results. The suit demands that CCC give up all unlawful conduct, including providing false assurances and test results to consumers, pay up to $12,500 per violation of the Consumer Protection Act, and forfeit any profits it made through its "sham" testing operation, plus attorneys' costs and fees.

Meanwhile, if you're looking for a test and not sure where to go, the Department of Health, King and Pierce counties all maintain lists of free, vetted testing locations.

The Center for Covid Control is not the first testing operation to be accused of fraudulent activity in Washington. Last April, King County issued a public warning after receiving multiple reports of unauthorized mobile COVID-19 test operations, pop-up testing tables that likely provided inaccurate results and may have been illegally gathering patient data.

Related:

'Unusual' Coronavirus Testing Sites Prompt Warning In King County

COVID Testing Company Pauses Operations Amid Investigations