Multiple whistleblowers have reported to the Sacramento CBS news affiliate shocking behavior at PerkinElmer’s Covid testing facility. The lab construction cost $25M and the government awarded the company a $1.7B contract to conduct Covid testing. According to multiple whistleblowers, technicians who were supposed to be testing swabs were sleeping on the job, samples were mixed up, unqualified people were testing the samples (contrary to federal law) and patients were receiving results of “inconclusive” as a result of all of the mishandling. Also, PerkinsElmer received the contract based on their stated ability to process 150,000 samples daily. Despite the government paying them for 100,000 daily tests, they are only performing 20,000.
All of the public health components must work together to address this expanding pandemic. If true, PerkinElmer’s behavior is not only fraud, but is unforgivable.
The article link is: https://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2021/02/08/whistleblower-allegations-california-covid-testing-lab/