Dan Suffoleto, a spokesman for Public Health, said Friday the department had a process in which patients or those being tested could pre-register for a pop-up test — but sometimes some of the registrants don’t show up.
During the notification process, everyone found to have a positive test result got a phone call from a Public Health contract tracing employee, most of them nurses, Suffoletto said.
Those deemed negative received a letter in the mail, he said. But some of those who failed to show up for testing were mistakenly included with the group of “negative” test results, receiving a letter notifying them of negative results, he said.
“Obviously, that shouldn’t happen,” Suffoletto said. “We’re looking at that ... it causes confusion if people get that information in the mail when they haven’t taken the test.”
To his knowledge, there have been no false positive test results.
The department also wants to reduce the time it takes to obtain results.
The restriction begins tonight.
Posted by Dayton Business on Friday, July 31, 2020
“In some instances on those last tests, it took over a week to get the results back,” he said. “So we’re trying to work with the lab and get it in a way to get those results faster.”
Test results are being processed at a regional lab established at Dayton Children’s Hospital, he added.
“Public Health apologizes for the inconvenience and is working with our partners to provide a new round of testing opportunities in the near future,” the department said in a release Friday.
Alternative sites may be found by visiting https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/covid-19/testing-ch-centers/
Suffoletto said on Friday that he didn’t know when free testing would resume.
About the Author
