The U.S. Food and Drug Administration released a statement this week saying that more than a COVID-19 testing sites throughout California could be producing false negatives. The FDA alerted patients and health care providers that tests producing false negatives are from Curative, a start-up medical testing company founded in 2020. Curative has more than 100 testing sites throughout California, including large clusters in the Inland Empire, Bay Area and Los Angeles County. The FDA believes since the Curative tests are self-administered, there is a chance of the swab not being conducted properly, leading to inaccurate results. Curative issued a statement defending its test saying,
"Curative's test has been validated and is being offered during the pandemic under an Emergency Use Authorization, and is labeled with specific warnings, precautions and limitations that FDA reiterated in the safety communication."
You may be thinking if there's a chance of a false positive with these tests, does that mean the positives are false as well? According to Riverside County Health Officer Dr. Cameron Kaiser, "any positive COVID-19 test results from a Curative self-administered test are almost always correct and individuals should act accordingly by isolating and monitoring their symptoms. "
Kaiser continued to say that he doesn't recommend everyone who received negative results from a Curative test immediately get re-tested. However, if someone you came in contact with tested positive and you did not, then you should get re-tested.
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