MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – The coronavirus data released Wednesday by Florida’s health department contained some shocking numbers: A record 4,141 new cases of COVID-19 in Miami-Dade County, representing more than half of the state’s one-day increase of 8,109.
But it turns out those numbers aren’t indicative of a worrisome trend. They’re the result of a single lab in Miami Gardens that dumped over 4,000 positive results to the state at once that covered seven weeks worth of testing.
“Today, the Florida Department of Health (DOH) received a backlog of testing data from Niznik Lab Corp in Miami, dating back to June 23rd,” the health department wrote in a tweet. “The lab reported over 4,000 cases occurring over the past 7 weeks, but which had not been reported to DOH until today.
“Therefore, this backlog severely skews today’s daily report for Miami-Dade & is not reflective of current trends. Once DOH was informed of this testing data backlog, we immediately reached out to Niznik Lab & we are investigating the matter, along with Miami-Dade leadership.”
(2/2)Therefore, this backlog severely skews today’s daily report for Miami-Dade & is not reflective of current trends. Once DOH was informed of this testing data backlog, we immediately reached out to Niznik Lab & we are investigating the matter, along with Miami-Dade leadership.
— Florida Dept. Health (@HealthyFla) August 12, 2020
Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez said that of those 4,104 positive cases just reported by Niznik, 2,941 were cases in Miami‐Dade, leading to what at first had looked like a significant spike of infection.
Patients have gotten their results since June 23, but the state’s health department didn’t, and so couldn’t include them in the daily reporting.
The state and county are each doing their own investigations into what went wrong.
Therefore, this backlog severely skews today’s daily report for Miami‐Dade and is not reflective of current trends. Once DOH was informed of this testing data backlog, State and County officials immediately reached out to Niznik Lab and are investigating the matter. (3/3)
— Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez (@MayorGimenez) August 12, 2020
Niznik Lab Corp’s website promotes “Fast & Affordable COVID-19 Testing for Businesses.”
For its customer, the state of Florida, not so much, apparently. The lab released a statement on Thursday.
“We initially experienced technical issues with data integration, we worked closely with State officials to correct our processes,” a lab spokesperson wrote. “As of last night, this has been remedied and data will now be reported daily.”
CEO Robert Niznik is an addiction recovery specialist, but his labs are now testing for COVID-19 for Florida.