Duke University admitted to notifying five dozen students that they tested positive for COVID-19 when in fact they had not contracted the virus.
The school in North Carolina notified 67 students they had received a positive diagnosis on Sunday evening. But a few hours later, it issued a follow-up message saying there was an error, the Duke Chronicle reported.
“We are happy to let you know that you are indeed cleared to leave sequester—there was an issue that accidentally marked your test as positive,” a message from the university said.
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“We apologize for any issues this caused,” the notification added. “We have worked with Student Health on this and they are aware of your correct state.”
Around 7 p.m., several dozen students received email and text message notifications that they had tested positive for COVID-19 and were advised to start quarantining in their housing quarters. The follow-up notifications walking back the warning about positive tests were sent out at around 11 p.m., according to the report.
“As soon as the error was discovered, each student was immediately notified and no further action is needed on their part,” Michael Schoenfeld, the vice president for public affairs and government relations with the university, said in a statement provided to the Washington Examiner. Schoenfeld said this had been the result of an error in data processing.
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“Over the past 17 months, Duke has administered more than 900,000 COVID surveillance tests to students and employees; to the best of our knowledge this is the only such error that has occurred and we have conducted a thorough review of the system to confirm that it was an isolated incident,” Schoenfeld said.
One student, Mona Tong, a senior at the university, told the Duke Chronicle she was relieved she was not positive for COVID-19, but she noted that she felt frustrated after feeling like she had been taken on an “emotional roller coaster.”
She added, “I guess it’s better than actually having COVID-19.”
The university announced on April 9 that all students wishing to be enrolled for the fall semester would be required to be vaccinated against the coronavirus. Additionally, Duke issued a vaccine mandate, requiring faculty and staff to submit proof of vaccination by Oct. 1 in order to keep their jobs, CNBC reported.
Between Jan. 3 and Jan. 9, the university reports that it tested a combined total of 10,447 faculty, staff, and students, according to the Duke COVID Testing Tracker. Out of this number, 871 have been reported as positive.
