SARASOTA: PEOPLE WHO NEVER TOOK TEST BEING TOLD THEY’RE COVID-POSITIVE

How accurate are coronavirus numbers?

 

A report out of Florida shows many people who have never been tested for COVID-19 are receiving phone calls claiming they’ve tested positive.

 

 

ABC 7 Sarasota talked with a woman called Mindy Clark who was in line to be tested for the virus when she noticed signs saying only those with symptoms should be tested.

 

Despite leaving immediately after seeing the signs and never receiving a test, Clark was contacted by someone telling her she tested positive.

 

When Mindy answered a phone call telling her she tested positive, she asked, “Positive for what?”

 

“Positive for COVID,” the person responded.

 

Clark explained that was impossible because she never took the test and asked for her record to be cleared of the alleged positive result.

 

The individual on the phone told Clark it was up to her to prove she’s negative for COVID, which she did two days later.

 

This isn’t the only example of someone who never got tested receiving a positive result, as citizens across the country have made similar complaints.

 

Comments on an ABC 7 Sarasota Facebook post on the story show many users claiming to have experienced the same issue.

 

 

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) addressed concerns about the potential testing errors on Monday, calling the rumors “problematic.”

 

“For that to come back positive, when there was no specimen submitted, is problematic. So I’ve heard it enough to be concerned about it,” he said. “If you’re somebody that this has happened to, you’re going to come forward and give us the details, because I think that that needs to be corrected.”

 

With similar errors becoming commonplace, how accurate are county, state and national COVID-19 statistics?