Test site remains closed over questionable test results

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ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — With plans to reopen Saturday, the Center For Covid Control (CCC) announced that it’s not reopening any time soon. The center has been closed for about a week and some change now. The site originally shut down because there were complaints about test results. Michelle Richardson tells News10NBC she’s still waiting on PCR test results.

"I’m hoping that they’re closed for good, I don’t think they should be in business at all,” Richardson said after finding out the site wasn’t going to reopen Saturday.

Richardson got a negative COVID result from a rapid test given by the Center For COVID Control on New Years’ Eve. She also got a PCR test that she is still waiting for.

"A week later, I still wasn’t feeling good so I went to CVS and got tested there. A few days later I got my results and it was positive,” Richardson said.

The site on Mount Hope Avenue voluntarily shut down last week and has been closed since because of questionable test results. Antoinette Erwin says she used the site to get test results around Thanksgiving and had to wait about two weeks for results.

"I’m sadly not surprised, I hoped it was a backlog or they just misplaced my information, but I just don’t trust them,” Erwin told News10NBC when she also found out the site didn’t reopen over the weekend.

There was a plan to reopen Saturday. The day it was set to open, the facility announced it was extending the pause until further notice. On the CCC’s website, it says, “Center for Covid Control (CCC) announced today it is extending its pause on operations and will not be reopening on Saturday, Jan. 22, 2022. CCC remains committed to providing the highest level of customer service and diagnostic quality and will not resume collection of patient samples until staffing resources permit CCC to operate at full capacity. As previously announced, CCC is using this operational pause to train additional staff on sample collection and handling, customer service and communications best practices, as well as compliance with regulatory guidelines. CCC will provide an update on reopening plans when appropriate.”

News10NBC also asked the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) for a comment, and it says, "The Center for COVID Control may not perform testing on-site until the appropriate approvals are obtained. Specimens may still be collected and sent out for PCR analysis."

The Attorney General’s offices in Minnesota and Colorado have opened investigations into their COVID control sites. The New York State Attorney General would not confirm or deny to us that it has opened an investigation. News10NBC has reached out to the COVID control company for a statement, We are waiting to hear back.