DeSantis says Quest Diagnostics failed to report nearly 75K COVID-19 test results; cuts ties with company

ORLANDO, Fla. — The Florida Department of Health said Gov. Ron DeSantis is ordering all Florida executive agencies to sever their COVID-19 testing relationships with Quest immediately.

Officials said Quest Diagnostics failed to follow Florida law and report all COVID-19 results in a timely manner.

The lab failed to report nearly 75,000 test results dating back to April, according to DeSantis.

“Quest’s failure to report nearly 75,000 results dating back to April means most of the data in today’s upload - while it will have historical significance - will have little impact on the status of the pandemic today,” DeSantis said.

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“The law requires all COVID-19 results to be reported to DOH in a timely manner,” DeSantis said. “To drop this much unusable and stale data is irresponsible. I believe that Quest has abdicated their ability to perform a testing function in Florida that the people can be confident in. As such I am directing all executive agencies to sever their COVID-19 testing relationships with Quest effective immediately.”

The Florida Department of Health said the case count for Monday alone would’ve been around 3,700 cases. But with the numbers Quest just dumped, it’s now more than 7,600.

Quest declined an interview with Channel 9, but said the delay was due to a “technical issue” that has now been resolved.

Quest said all individuals that tested positive were notified of their results.

DeSantis said moving forward he’ll be directing the state to watch metrics he calls “more credible” than the increases and drops in daily case count. Those metrics would include data like the number of people coming to the ER with COVID-19 symptoms or being admitted with the virus.

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Cox Media Group