Troubled state COVID-19 lab escapes sanctions despite reports of muddled test results

No sanctions volition beryllium brought against the state-funded $25 cardinal COVID-testing laboratory contempt published whistleblower accounts of uncertified technicians sleeping connected the job, swapping specimens and posting excessively galore inconclusive results.

The California Department of Public Health connected Monday issued a agelong overdue study declaring that deficiencies reported by whistleblowers oregon recovered by its ain inspections had not been proven oregon were corrected astatine the Valencia subdivision lab, which mostly services radical minorities and schoolchildren.

“All deficiencies were addressed and determination was nary interaction to the integrity of the tests processed astatine the laboratory,” said the report, which was owed successful March aft whistleblower allegations were broadcast successful February connected Sacramento tv stations.

The announcement came weeks aft the authorities automatically renewed its $1.7 billion, no-bid declaration with laboratory relation PerkinElmer of Massachusetts, sparking protests from Senate Majority Leader Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita. Wilk had urged the authorities to clasp disconnected connected the declaration renewal until aft the study was released.

“The allegations exposed successful February were troubling to accidental the slightest — swapped samples, inaccurate results, contamination and beyond. Not to mention, backstage labs are producing the aforesaid results astatine a reduced cost,” Wilk said Monday.

Earlier inspections by the wellness department’s laboratory tract services recovered problems successful documentation, grounds keeping, process, and training, which the bureau labeled arsenic mean for specified a laboratory successful the aboriginal stages.

Problems astatine the lab, which was successful its archetypal twelvemonth of operation, were breached by tv presumption CBS13 past February successful a Superbowl Sunday study that prompted laboratory officials to bid immoderate employees to instantly study to the lab. Whistleblowers alleged those employees were told to destruct records, which could not beryllium aboriginal corroborated by authorities inspectors.

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