SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Lab experts are speaking out, shocked that the state allowed its billion-dollar coronavirus testing lab to continue operating for nearly a year while putting public health at risk. This comes after the state finally released its investigation into “significant deficiencies” at California’s COVID testing lab, which was prompted by a CBS13 whistleblower investigation.
Experts point out that inspectors did confirm the whistleblower allegations. In two separate reports (here and here), inspectors found that the CDPH-PerkinElmer Valencia Branch (VBL) lab was putting patient health and safety in “immediate jeopardy” and that lab practices were “likely to cause, at any time, serious injury or harm, or death.”
However, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) claimed in its summary of the investigation, that inspectors found deficiencies that “are routinely found in lab inspections” and that they had “no impact to the integrity of the tests processed at the laboratory.”
Lab experts say the inspector’s reports clearly contradict the CDPH’s claims.
The link to the actual inspection records was buried at the bottom of the state’s 10-page “issue brief”, in which the state did not mention any of the specific risks to public health that are detailed in the inspectors’ reports.
Records also indicate that the lab failed to correct the deficiencies for at least nine months, asking for repeated extensions and meetings with inspectors as they struggled to bring...
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