Floridians say they’re being told they’re positive for COVID-19 without being tested

A Sarasota woman says she was called and told she had tested positive for the coronavirus when she had never received a test to begin with. These types of stories have made the rounds on social media, and they’re also getting the attention of the governor.

For days, we’ve been hearing about people who say they never got tested but are getting phone calls with someone on the other end telling them they are positive for COVID-19.

Mindy Clark claims she’s one of them.

“I got a call asking for me, and they told me that I had tested positive,” Clark said. “I was like, ‘Positive for what?” Then, the lady said for COVID, and I said, ‘That’s impossible.’”

Clark said she waited in line for a test and then realized the line was for people with symptoms only, so she left. A few days later, she claims she got the call she mentioned. But, again, she had never been tested.

“I told them they needed to take this off my record, and they said I had to prove it to them that I wasn’t positive,” Clark said.

Gov. Ron DeSantis apparently heard stories like Clark’s and addressed them in a news conference Thursday afternoon. He said the state is now investigating.

“We’ve looked at our state sites, and we have not found examples of that,” DeSantis said. “But I know most of the other folks who have talked about it, I think those are more private sites that they were talking about, but bottom line is it’s something we want to get to the bottom of.”

The governor says, if you have proof — an email or a text message — that this happened to you, call Florida Department of Health.

We spoke to representatives from CVS, Lab Corps and Quest Diagnostics about the governor’s comments. They all promised to send statements, but we have not received them yet.

“It’s such a bad time,” Clark said. “These last five months have been so bad. People don’t need these added mistakes.”