Dozens Of Northern Utah COVID-19 Test Samples Lost
Jul 22, 2020, 7:09 PM | Updated: 9:17 pm
BRIGHAM CITY, Utah – Dozens of people got the news that they won’t be finding out the results of their COVID-19 tests.
The tests, taken at the Brigham City location of the Bear River Health Department last Wednesday, were lost. It’s estimated that about 30 to 35 people will never get results from those samples.
Josh Greer, Bear River Health Department spokesman, said like many testing locations, they use a specialized courier that transports the samples from those test centers to a state lab.
“We are frustrated. It was an inconvenience for these individuals, especially if they had to go and get retested,” Greer said.
The samples have since been found again, but they were expired and unable to be tested.
Ari, who asked KSL not to use her full name, said she was expecting those results Saturday. She called Monday to see what was going on, but didn’t get a clear answer until Wednesday morning when she got a call from Bear River Health, explaining what had happened.
“Yeah, I was really frustrated because here I’ve had myself in quarantine, keeping myself away from other people all this time, waiting for my results, and now I don’t even get to have results,” she said.
Greer said their nursing director realized something was wrong when test results from Thursday started coming back, and they still had nothing from the day before.
He also said everyone involved has been contacted.
Ari got another test Wednesday. She has body aches and a fever, so she said she wants to know for sure.
“I work in an emergency room, and so I’d like to know so that I can go back to work,” she said. “Because obviously I don’t want to go into an emergency room and spread it to everybody there.”
This testing center location is now closed, as staff members are gearing up for the flu season.
