A COVID-19 testing facility in Valencia has become the focus of a state investigation after several whistleblower reports of improper practices and inconclusive tests came to light.
The investigation comes after a story released by CBS13, which worked alongside former and current employees to bring forward allegations of improper procedure and a remarkably high rate of inconclusive tests coming out of the facility.
The lab is run by PerkinElmer, a Massachusetts-based diagnostics company that partnered with California to improve COVID-19 testing efficiency and capacity, according to the governor’s office.
“We take seriously any and all complaints or allegations of wrongdoing at the laboratory we oversee with our vendor, PerkinElmer; high-quality test results for underserved Californians are our top priority,” said Kate Folmar, spokeswoman for the California Health and Human Services Agency. “We have deployed a team of state laboratory experts to the laboratory to investigate the allegations.”
Governor Gavin Newsom spoke at the 25 million COVID-19 testing facility in Valencia on Oct. 30 of last year, noting that the new facility was expected to significantly increase the state’s testing capacity.
At the time, California officials announced that the Valencia PerkinElmer lab was expected to be able to process up to 150,000 test kits daily, focusing on the most commonly used polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, which isolates genetic material from a swab sample, according to the governor’s office.
However, CBS13 reports that the site is only processing an average of fewer than 20,000 tests a day.
The Valencia lab was expected to increase the state’s testing capacity by a minimum of 75 percent, Newsom said at the time.
Soon after becoming active, the Valencia testing facility began releasing an unusually high number of COVID-19 tests with inconclusive results, as commented on by California health officials last fall.
“We did identify that a higher number than expected (number) of tests in the first week came back inconclusive,” said California Health Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly in a November 2020 press conference.
CBS13 also reported that the over half-dozen whistleblowers they spoke to provided evidence of “systemic problems inside the state lab and pointed to contamination, constantly changing protocols as well as unlicensed and inadequately trained staff as the reason for the high number of invalid and inconclusive results.”
In response to the whistleblower allegations, PerkinElmer has sworn to cooperate fully with the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) investigation in order to continue operating “at the highest of standards,” according to company spokesperson Fara Goldberg.
“At the Valencia laboratory, dedicated individuals at both PerkinElmer and CDPH have worked extremely hard to open the facility and ramp up testing over the past several months in order to meet the State’s testing demands,” Goldberg said in a prepared statement. “We take any complaints or allegations of wrongdoing seriously and are fully cooperating with California to investigate the issues raised on the report last night and will continue to be fully transparent with CDPH on any concerns they have.”
The $25 million lab and $1.7 billion contract with PerkinElmer requires the facility to process up to 150,000 COVID tests daily by March, returning results in 24 to 48 hours. Records obtained by CBS13 indicate that far fewer tests are being processed on a daily basis, despite payment to the contrary.
“The state’s contract with PerkinElmer contains strong contractual language to ensure that we protect the state and taxpayers,” Folmar said. “We need to let the laboratory experts do their work and see if complaints are substantiated — and then the state will take any action that may be merited.”
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