Thousands of North Carolina residents were recently told they had positive coronavirus tests, but it was a mistake.
More than 6,700 people in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, were told in a text message sent from the Mecklenburg County Health Department on Friday that they had tested positive for COVID-19 and more than 500 people were told by county email that they also had the novel. Corona Virus. But the results were incorrect due to a technical flaw by Health Space, the company they use to track contacts, according to a statement on the county’s website.
“An error occurred during routine maintenance last Friday, which resulted in the county data seller sending the wrong texts and emails to people saying they were positive for COVID-19,” the statement said on the county’s website.
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County Director Dina Diorio sent an email to the County Council of Commissioners Monday afternoon that was posted on the government’s website.
The error affected thousands of residents.
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“We very quickly started working with the vendor to understand the problem and make sure it was not persisting. Once corrected, we were told that 6,727 texts and 541 emails were sent to individuals who were already in their system. Then we worked with the vendor to send a corrected text / email to each Who received the wrong message, “the email came in part.
Initially, the county said the messages were a hoax, saying in its tweet, “Public Health does not send COVID-19 test results via text message. If you receive a text like the one below, do not click on the link and do not reply with any private information.”
But hours later, the county sent a tweet saying, “These texts were sent due to a technical defect in the program’s system that was handled by the software provider.”
Diorio told county commissioners in an email that the county has been using Health Space since May to help trace contacts.
“During routine overnight maintenance, there was an issue that caused one batch of daily COVID-19 alerts to be sent to individuals who were not supposed to receive them. The cause of this problem was identified and addressed, within 30 minutes of the initial report, the CEO said. For Health Space Silas Garrison in a statement.
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As Garrison said in the letter: “We apologize for any concern this has caused to citizens who were not supposed to have sent an alert or survey.”
The county website stated that no personal information was compromised and it took Health Space less than an hour to correct the problem. He also stated, “ Public Health does not text or email positive or negative COVID results to those affected.
Officials on the county’s website said anyone who received incorrect information was contacted and asked to ignore the results.
