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SALT LAKE CITY — Dozens of COVID-19 testing sites will be open in Utah this week despite the state health department's announcement Sunday that it would pause certain rapid antigen tests over potential flaws in the testing.
The Utah Department of Health on Monday announced over 50 testing locations that will be open across the state at some point during the week. It also reported 5,504 new COVID-19 cases since Friday, as well as 18 additional deaths — although the recent antigen testing mishaps are making it difficult to know the exact number of new cases in the state.
The health department has temporarily stopped using GenBody rapid antigen tests beginning Monday after an analysis of 18,000 recent PCR and GenBody found only 38% of rapid tests matched PCR results. Most of the issues resulted in false-negative results; for instance, only 41% of Utahns who had obvious COVID-19 symptoms tested positive through the GenBody tests.
Dr. Leisha Nolen, the state's epidemiologist, said the issue was then brought up last week when some of the testing services officials switched over to the GenBody rapid antigen tests and noticed a rise in negative antigen tests that would later come up as positive when PCR test results came back. That prompted the review of comparison tests.
The state had only started using the tests toward the end of 2021 and through January as a result of the state's recent omicron surge, which resulted in a higher demand for COVID-19 tests, according to Nate Checketts, the state health department's executive director. It's still unclear if it's a test issue or how the state is using the tests.
"We were concerned by those numbers and we wanted to elevate why this is happening, and we prefer to do this pause than give out inaccurate information," Nolen said during a media briefing Sunday.
The temporary pause is expected to last a few weeks until a final decision is made. All people who received rapid antigen tests last week are encouraged to get tested again this week or request one of the at-home tests from the sites.
In the meantime, all state-operated sites — which included health department mobile test teams, TestUtah and TourHealth — will use PCR tests this week. Since PCR tests usually take two to three business days to be completed, the sites will also offer BinaxNow rapid antigen tests people can take home with them and test for a faster result.
State health officials explained that BinaxNow tests "showed better results," in that they were more likely to match PCR test results, with less than 33% wrong. The tests that the state is momentarily moving away from aren't the same as the tests the federal government began mailing out over the last month.
As was the case prior to the GenBody test issues, the state health department still only recommends certain Utahns get tested for COVID-19. Those are:
- Elderly Utahns
- People with significant underlying conditions
- People who plan to visit someone else is considered vulnerable
- Health care and long-term care facility employees
- People who live or work in congregate settings, including prisons and homeless shelters
- People traveling somewhere that requires a negative test
- People who have improved from sickness and want to confirm a negative test
The full list of this week's COVID-19 testing sites and testing times can be found here. Some of the testing locations require an appointment in advance, which can be made through the website.
Are the numbers really going down?
As testing without GenBody tests resumes Monday, the health department reported 5,504 new cases over the weekend. Of those, 2,505 cases are from Friday, 1,724 from Saturday, and 1,324 from Sunday.
School-age children account for 688 of the new cases. The state's seven-day running average of new cases dropped from 3,295 cases on Friday to 2,611 entering this week.
The state's seven-day "people over people" positivity rate is also dropping, from 44.5% at the start of last week to 36.7% this week. The state's seven-day rolling average using the "tests over tests" is down to 21.9% this week after it was 28.2% at the start of last week.
All of these are good signs. That said, the recent issues with GenBody antigen tests bring into question some of the recent numbers. Dr. Michelle Hofmann, the state health department's deputy director, said the incorrect GenBody results likely mean there were many positive cases missed over the past few weeks.
"However, we're really at a point in the pandemic response where precise case counts aren't telling us that much. More important are the overall trends and severity of the disease," she said during Sunday's press briefing. "Omicron has blown through our communities and we're glad to be on the other side of that peak there."
The surveillance data from other sources, such as sewage water, are showing either stabilization in trends or the coronavirus is decreasing in the state.
The other good news is a recent drop in hospitalizations, which is also a trend showing a decline in COVID-19 regardless of any false test results. There are currently 709 people hospitalized with COVID-19, according to the state health department. Utah reached a record-high 853 COVID-19 active hospitalizations on Jan 27, but that number has steadily declined since.
Of the 709 people currently in hospitals because of COVID-19, 174 people are in intensive care unit beds. Utah's ICU beds are 85% full at its referral centers and 83% statewide.
Meanwhile, the state reports 18 new deaths that were attributed to COVID-19. Four of the people died before Jan. 7, health officials said.
These latest deaths include:
- A Box Elder County woman between the ages of 65 and 84, who was hospitalized at the time of death
- A Davis County woman, older than 85, not hospitalized
- A Cache County woman, 65-84, not hospitalized
- A Carbon County woman, 45-64, hospitalized
- A Juab County man, 65-84, not hospitalized
- A Salt Lake County woman, 45-64, hospitalized
- A Salt Lake County woman, older than 85, not hospitalized
- A Salt Lake County man, older than 85, long-term care facility resident
- A Salt Lake County man, 65-84, not hospitalized
- A Salt Lake County woman, 65-84, hospitalized
- A Salt Lake County man, 45-64, hospitalized
- A Salt Lake County man, older than 85, not hospitalized
- A Salt Lake County woman, 65-84, hospitalized
- A Salt Lake County woman, 65-84, long-term care facility resident
- A Salt Lake County man, 65-84, long-term care facility resident
- A Washington County woman, older than 85, hospitalized
- A Washington County woman, 65-84, hospitalized
- A Washington County man, 25-44, not hospitalized
The health department also reported 5,736 vaccines were administered since Friday. About 60% of all Utahns are considered fully vaccinated, while 805,179 booster doses have been administered among the 1.95 million fully vaccinated Utahns.
