12,000 Washington state coronavirus test kits recalled over ‘quality control’ issues
The Washington state Department of Health has recalled 12,000 coronavirus test kits sent to local and tribal governments after the kits were identified as possibly having a “quality control issue.”
The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department had 163 of the recalled kits.
“We discarded them at the request of the State Department of Health. DOH has supplied us with additional tests,” Steve Metcalf, communications specialist for the department, said in an emailed statement to The News Tribune. “The removal of the recalled tests does not affect our testing capabilities.”
Thurston County Public Health & Social Services said it “did not receive any of the test kits from the contaminated lot number that was recalled.”
According to a Sunday news release, UW Medicine brought the issue to the attention of the DOH on Friday when it observed the viral transport media (VTM) were “an unusual color.” DOH were brought in to “investigate potential contamination.”
“Though the quality control issue has only been observed in a small number of tubes of viral transport media, we adhere to the highest quality standards for COVID-19 testing in Washington state,” said Secretary of Health John Wiesman. “We are working with our partners to have them discard the product and will work to replace them as quickly as we can.”
The release said that there was no risk to the health of patients “as the VTM does not come in contact with patients during a COVID-19 test.”
The release stated there were no incorrect test results found during the initial investigation.
When asked why tests were still recalled if there were no incorrect results, the COVID-19 Response Joint Information Center said, “Even though the quality control issues didn’t affect test results, they are still being recalled out of an abundance of caution.”
With 12,000 tests now no longer being used, the Joint Information Center said there could be a delay in getting tests back.
“We are working closely with UW Medicine and local health partners to replace the recalled specimen collection kits as quickly as possible,” according to the Joint Information Center. “Our supplies aren’t adequate at the moment to immediately replace all swabs and VTM transport tubes. We do have a large shipment of swabs from another vendor expected this week and the state has VTM from another vendor.”
This story was originally published April 20, 2020 at 2:34 PM.
