SWFL hospitals shown as testing 100% positive for COVID-19, but they say that’s wrong

Is Florida’s positivity rate accurate? Several organizations that perform tests for the coronavirus show a 100% positivity rate, including many Southwest Florida hospital systems.

The state says it’s working with the labs to make sure they are reported correctly, but the hospitals say they are submitting it right to begin with. So where’s the mistake?

Concern sparked Tuesday because the Florida Department of Health shows multiple labs in the state with a 100% positive testing rate. That would mean every single person tested received a positive result.

Lee Health and other hospitals say that’s wrong. But, at this point, no one knows why the error exists.

Data we analyzed from 110 health care locations in Florida show everyone who went to them tested positive for COVID-19.

The labs are mostly small, independent labs or small labs within big hospitals. A small lab at Lee Memorial Hospital shows 405 out of 405 tests positive for COVID-19. But Lee Health has tested thousands of people and says its positive test rate is 18%.

Those numbers also show up in state department of health data.

NCH Healthcare System, DeSoto Memorial Hospital, Hendry Regional Medical Center and Advance Medical of Naples all have labs showing 99 or 100 percent positive.

All say it’s wrong. Advance Medical of Naples flat out told us the “data is incorrect.”

The FDOH says some labs aren’t reporting negative cases, and they are working to educate those labs. Yet all Southwest Florida health care systems who responded to us said they report both positive and negative test results.

It will take more time to figure out where this problem really is and how it can be solved.