After some speculation and misinformation circulating on social media regarding false positive COVID-19 test results, Algoma Public Health confirmed that the most recent cases reported were not false positives.
On Aug. 30, APH reported a case of COVID-19 in a staff member at the Ontario Finnish Rest Home. On Sept. 3, the home stated that a second test conducted two days later came back negative.
This does not mean that the first test was a false positive, APH says.
“All of the positive cases of COVID-19 reported on APH's website are confirmed cases, including the one reported on September 3, 2020,” said Dr. Loo, Associate Medical Officer of Health at Algoma Public Health.
After testing positive for COVID-19 on Aug. 30, the staff member underwent a second test which came out negative on Sept. 1.
“With every positive test result, APH's team takes great care in gathering information to confirm the diagnosis as a first step to case management. This may include verifying with the testing laboratory to confirm that there was no sample contamination or reporting errors,” Dr. Loo said.
“APH only reports confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 on our website. If a situation were to happen where a result was found to be erroneously reported, these would not be considered positive cases and would not be included in Algoma's case count.”
On Friday, APH confirmed that a staff member at the F.J. Davey Home has also tested positive for COVID-19, marking a total of 29 cases in the region.
