State renews contract with troubled Covid testing lab

California renewed its contract on Sunday with a Covid testing laboratory that’s been under scrutiny for lost or invalid test results, slow turnaround and other “significant deficiencies,” according to CalMatters.

An estimated 1,600 schools in California rely on Valencia Branch Lab, operated by PerkinElmer, for Covid testing. After complaints from whistleblowers about lax conditions at the lab, state health inspectors conducted an investigation and found that the lab posed “the most severe and egregious threat to the health and safety of recipients,” according to the report. The full investigation, which was due in March, has not yet been released.

Sami Gallegos, California Health and Human Services Agency spokesperson, told CalMatters that the state will continue monitoring the lab but has no immediate plans to terminate the $1.7 billion contract.

“The state plans to continue to have the Valencia Branch Laboratory operational to ensure that we have adequate testing capabilities going into the winter months,” Gallagos said. “We will continue to evaluate our need for the laboratory as we do with all aspects of our response.”