North Carolina County Reports Nearly 7,000 False Positive COVID-19 Cases
By Jason Hall
September 15, 2020
A North Carolina county has reportedly falsely notified nearly 7,000 residents that they tested positive for COVID-19.
A total of 6,727 text messages and 541 emails were sent from the Mecklenburg County Health Department to residents through the HealthSpace Data System, the Charlotte Observer reports.
The residents were not supposed to receive the texts or emails as the county does not provide COVID-19 results that way. On Friday, the county tweeted that the messages were sent to residents due to a technical glitch.
SCAM ALERT: Public Health does not send out COVID-19 testing results via text message. If you’ve received a text like the one below, do not click the link and do not respond with any private information. pic.twitter.com/U2vGMDVJnD
— Mecklenburg County (@MeckCounty) September 11, 2020
"SCAM ALERT: Public Health does not send out COVID-19 testing results via text message," Mecklenburg County tweeted. "If you've received a text like the one below, do not click the link and do not respond with any private information."
"These texts were sent to due to a technical glitch in the software system that has been addressed by the software provider," the county continued. "No personal information was shared or compromised."
County manager Dena Diorio confirmed in an email to commissioners that the messages were sent through HealthSpace Data System, which is based in British Columbia, the Charlotte Observer reports.
Mecklenburg Country reportedly began using HealthSpace's software in late May in an effort to track the number of COVID-19 cases reported and improve contact tracing efforts, which is part of a contract worth $157,800 over five years, the Charlotte Observer reports.
All of the residents were in HealthSpace's system, which means they could have tested for COVID-19 previously and likely recovered or thought they came in close contact with another individual who had coronavirus. Diorio said in the email that the vendor sent a corrected text or email to the residents who received the false positive results, the Charlotte Observer reports.
“We apologize for any alarm this caused citizens who were not supposed to be sent an alert or survey,” HealthSpace CEO Silas Garrison said in a statement on Friday via the Charlotte Observer.