Utah will halt all rapid COVID-19 tests offered to residents after a study found high reports of false negatives, state health officials announced Sunday.
The decision, which went into effect Monday, hinged on research that showed 18,000 residents who received both GenBody COVID-19 rapid antigen body tests and PCR tests on the same day tested positive on PCR but tested negative on GenBody tests more than half the time.
“While rapid antigen tests are known to be less likely to identify a positive individual, the difference identified in this analysis was higher than expected,” said the Utah Department of Health, according to the Associated Press.
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The department said the negative results are false, but the positives are legitimate and do not warrant taking another test. GenBody tests in Utah have been administered at COVID-19 testing sites and clinics.
Health officials are working to determine why the GenBody test in Utah produces a higher false-negative count than other states. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, those who tested positive on PCR tests only got the same diagnosis from GenBody tests 38% of the time. For people with COVID-related symptoms, the results were slightly higher at 41%.
Similar results in December, before the omicron variant became the dominant strain, pointed at a failure of the tests regardless of the strain. Utah health officials said they are working with the Food and Drug Administration and GenBody to determine whether the malfunction is the tests or how they are administered in the state.
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Hospitalizations in Utah connected to COVID-19 reached an all-time high at 125 on Jan. 18. There have been 4,173 deaths related to COVID-19 and 898,000 cases recorded in Utah, according to the New York Times.
