The Washington State Department of Health announced this week that 12,000 COVID-19 test kits sent out across the state are being recalled after discovering they might have been “contaminated,” according to a press release.
Jefferson County Public Health Officer Tom Locke said 115 tests made it to Jefferson County, with 100 going to Jefferson Healthcare and 15 to Jefferson County Public Health.
None of the tests sent to Jefferson County were used, Locke said, so public health is not concerned with current test result validity.
The test kits are comprised comprised of a nasal swab and a vial filled with a viral transport media, a liquid used to preserve the specimen. Researchers at UW Medicine first became suspicious of the quality of the tests when they noted the viral transport media was an unusual color.
Locke said Jefferson County Public Health was told the fluid was contaminated with a “low-level bacteria” that made the liquid cloudy.
The kits came from Lingen Precision Medical Products, a medical supply manufacturer in Shanghai, China.
UW Medicine reported the bacteria did not impact test results.
DOH is urging health jurisdictions that obtained the faulty tests to not use them and wait for a resupply.
There are not enough supplies at the state level to replace all 12,000 tests immediately, according to a press release, but the state is getting new shipments of nasal swabs and viral transport media this week from different manufacturers.
This will not impact Jefferson County’s testing efforts as Jefferson Healthcare still has other tests available, Locke said.
