Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital revealed its pathology service incorrectly messaged 400 patients to tell them they had tested negative for COVID.
The message was incorrect and the patients did in fact had COVID, meaning, there were 400 new cases roaming the streets of Sydney all weekend.
So maybe the government wasn’t wrong to say everyone is going to get COVID.
The people affected were notified of their results on Christmas Day for swabs taken from December 22 and December 23.
Professor Dodds became aware of the mistake Sunday morning and said: “These people had tested positive to COVID,”
“As soon we became aware of the issue this morning, SydPath immediately commenced a process to contact impacted people.
“We sincerely apologise to all those impacted.”
SydPath medical director Professor Anthony Dodds read out a statement, blaming the “very large volume of tests that we’ve been contending with”.
This comes only days after the NSW premier Dominic Perrottet urged NSW residents to consider using rapid antigen tests if they’re not legally required to get a PCR test.
“I know there are long queues right across our state, so if you do not feel unwell there is no need to receive a PCR test. You are taking a spot in the queue from somebody who needs a test,” he said.
That means if you’re just a casual contact and you aren’t experiencing symptoms it would reduce the impact on the testing facilities to use a rapid antigen test.
The government has also said they’re planning on issuing residents with three rapid antigen tests however until then they are available at most chemists for around $10-$15.
There’s no real saying yet just how these 400 misdiagnosed cases have impacted the city but, considering the timing and the daily case numbers, it’s probably safe to say that it was quite the fuck up.
