WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — As people continue to get tested for COVID-19, many are wondering how common false positive and false negative tests are.
Mary Falen says she started feeling tired, which isn't unusual with her underlying health conditions, but on July 15th, she decided to get a COVID-19 test in Warner Robins.
On July 19th, it came back positive.
"I was really shocked and I thought, 'With my condition, I need to talk to my doctor,'" says Falen.
The very next day, she got a blood test and, this time, tested negative for COVID-19.
"'Negative. No trace of it. It's not been in your system,' and I was relieved."
Michael Hokanson with the North Central Health District says false positives are possible, but very rare.
It's much more common to see a false negative.
"People who are exposed will try to get testing immediately following that exposure, however, that in itself can lead to a false negative," says Hokanson.
He says it takes time for the virus to show up in your system, so they recommend people wait 10 days after being exposed to the virus before getting a test, but if you are experiencing symptoms, you should get tested as soon as you can.
Hokanson says if a test is mishandled or contaminated, that could cause a false positive.
"A false positive is something that could be a... something that slips through the cracks. It could be the way that the test was conducted."
Falen says once she realized her initial test was showing a false positive, she called the facility who tested her.
She says they told her nothing could be done.
"This is the first time that we’ve heard of this, however, the way the reporting works, it definitely is something that is entirely possible," says Hokanson. "When a lab report comes through, if it is not a positive person that has already been counted as a case, then yes, it would become a new case, but he says there is something you can do if you believe this has happened to you.
"They might follow it up with case investigation and eliminate it with data cleaning efforts, however, that’s something that… it’s more of a gray area when it comes to the follow up on trying to do investigations on false positives."
He says testing and even the virus are still so new, there are bound to be errors.
"Not everything is going to be perfect because we've been doing this for six months. We're still learning new things about the testing material, the testing equipment and the disease itself," says Hokanson.