More than 40 false positive COVID-19 tests identified at Cal Poly due to processing error
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. - After seeing an uncharacteristic spike in COVID-19 cases among students, Cal Poly announced Wednesday that numerous positive test results were found to have been false due to an error at the test processing lab.
After noticing the suspicious spike, the university said it asked Avellino Labs, a third-party lab the school contracts with to process asymptomatic COVID-19 tests, to re-process and reconfirm one day's worth of results.
While waiting for their conclusions, the school said it moved forward with normal protocol to isolate students who test positive.
Cal Poly explained that, Tuesday evening, Avellino informed them that it discovered a technician error in Avellino’s lab processing, which led them to mistakenly identify and report 41 false positive tests.
The lab released the following statement explaining the error:
Statement on Recent COVID‐19 Avellino Test Results for Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
On January 26, 2021, Avellino Lab USA Inc. (Avellino) informed California Polytechnic University at San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly SLO) the results of 42 of about 10,000 tests performed for the school during the week of January 17, 2021 were misreported as false positives. These false positive outcomes were determined to be the result of an isolated incident of human error. This incident was an anomaly, one that is being immediately addressed with retraining and technology safeguards. To date, Avellino has conducted approximately 40,000 tests for Cal Poly SLO, and the Company affirms the accuracy of its RTPCR‐based molecular diagnostic assay, AvellinoCoV2, with data from more than 1 million tests performed. Avellino’s test has a 97% sensitivity rate with a specificity rate of 100%.
Avellino Lab USA Inc.
The school used this information to contact impacted students and help them access updated information regarding their health.
"Of the 41 students, 28 have been cleared and returned to normal campus activities," Cal Poly explained. "However, the university has determined that the remaining 13 students may have been exposed to other students in isolation who had previously tested positive for COVID-19. We have moved those 13 students to individual isolation quarters, are providing care and support for them and are testing them per CDC and public health guidelines to determine their current health status."
Cal Poly also revealed that they had been intending to move away from Avellino Labs for months, planning instead to implement their own in-house saliva testing procedure for all students.
The university said it expects to fully transition to the in-house procedure in the next two weeks.
For updates and breakdowns of COVID-19 cases throughout San Luis Obispo County, click here.
