Florida coronavirus: Lab blamed for thousands of inaccurate tests fires back

TAMPA (WFLA) – The lab company blamed for thousands of inaccurate COVID-19 test results ia breaking its silence.

“All of this nonsense about the tests being not reliable and not being stored correctly is complete utter lies,” said Rick Martin, the CEO of the molecular lab MicroGenDX. “They want a scapegoat.”

Florida health care company AdventHealth said it’s possible that as many as 33,000 Florida patients who took COVID-19 tests may have been told incorrect results, or received no results at all.

AdventHealth puts the blame directly on a third-party lab; however, they’ve refused to identify that lab.

“Are you the CEO of the lab that AdventHealth has cut ties with?” asked investigative reporter Mahsa Saeidi.

“Yes,” said Martin. “I understand people being angry.”

Linda Misner was tested on May 1 but she still has no idea if she’s COVID-19 positive. 8 On Your Side is working to help her get answers.

“It was very frustrating not to get any results,” said Misner.

According to Martin, MicroGenDX has processed nearly 60,000 tests for AdventHealth, including those now in question.

AdventHealth states that they’ve notified the appropriate regulatory agencies and they don’t have confidence in the reliability of the tests.

Martin fired back on Tuesday saying his company has worked with top institutions for more than a decade.

“So if it was positive, they can trust it’s positive,” said Martin.

8 On Your Side asked why AdventHealth is stating the opposite.

“Because they looked at the storage of the sample,” said Martin, “they made an assumption that those samples are no longer viable.”

The hospital and the lab are apparently clashing over the storage of samples.

While we wait for regulators to weigh in on the sample storage squabble, Martin says he wants to help Floridians left in limbo.

“If they didn’t get a result, we’ll provide them a test kit and we’ll test them,” said Martin.

If you would like to get in touch with MicroGenDX, you can visit their website at this link.

Martin says if you reach out to the lab directly, they’ll answer your questions and give you another test.

8 On Your Side reached out to AdventHealth about Martin’s allegations on Tuesday.

They referred us to a prior statement:

“We stand by our initial statement and have notified the appropriate regulatory agencies of the issues we experienced with this lab. Our complete focus is on notifying and accommodating every consumer who has been impacted by this situation. Our teams are working around the clock to contact these individuals and assess how we can best help them, which may include an appointment with a provider and a retest in some circumstances. Anyone experiencing COVID-19 symptoms should seek care immediately.” — AdventHealth