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FEMA Ordered $10.2 Million in COVID-19 Testing Kits It's Now Warning States Not to Use:
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has warned states not to use COVID-19 testing supplies it bought under a $10.2 million contract after a ProPublica investigation last week showed the vendor was providing contaminated and unusable mini soda bottles.
[...] ProPublica reported on June 18 that Fillakit was using plastic preforms, which are expanded with heat and pressure to become 2-liter soda bottles, to fulfill FEMA's contract for testing supplies to be used by states. The bottles were shoveled into the warehouse, then filled with saline in what workers described as unsanitary conditions. Some of the states receiving the lab equipment told ProPublica that even if Fillakit's tubes weren't contaminated, they were simply too big to be used in lab machinery.
[...] The FEMA spokeswoman said the agency continues to provide "critically needed testing supplies in a timely manner to our state and local partners in response to the coronavirus."
FEMA signed its first deal with Fillakit on May 7, just six days after the company was formed by an ex-telemarketer repeatedly accused of fraudulent practices over the past two decades. Fillakit has supplied a total of more than 3 million tubes, which FEMA then approved and sent to all 50 states.
Wexler has previously declined to comment. A ProPublica reporter visited the facility this month and confirmed that workers were using snow shovels to gather up tubes and filling them, all in the open air.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Sunday June 28 2020, @07:00PM (2 children)
Do the test kits work?
It's not obvious to me that the bottles need to be sterile. Just not contaminated with coronavirus, which could lead to false positives. It's not as if anyone is injecting them.
-- hendrik
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 29 2020, @12:46AM
They could very well be contaminated with Coronavirus from infected workers, or with other things that might screw up the testing (cause false positives and/or false negatives), or that might damage valuable equipment. And that all assumes that these tubes even fit in the testing equipment, which apparently they don't. Quality control is important.
(Score: 2) by ledow on Monday June 29 2020, @12:47PM
It would cost you more to test them to find out than they are "worth".
Contaminants tend to really mess up any kind of testing, especially if you're testing for things like a certain DNA signature.
There's a reason that labs, tests, solutions, glassware, etc. are all kept sterile - it's not for the fun of it.