A testing error forced a healthy Georgia State University football team to miss Saturday’s game against Charlotte.
According to the university on Sunday, the positive COVID-19 tests that had forced the postponement were “the result of errors in reading the test results.” Therefore, the game could have been played.
"Friday afternoon, as we were loading the buses to play a football game at Charlotte, we were informed that four individuals out of 135 had tested positive for coronavirus from our third test in four days as part of our protocol to play,” Georgia State director of athletics Charlie Cobb said in the press release. “Through contract tracing, we identified 17 others, including one coach, who would require quarantining.”
Georgia State announced Friday that it was postponing the Charlotte game “out of an abundance of caution.” The Panthers had been tested on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday of last week. There were no positive tests on Monday or Wednesday, which made Thursday’s positive results a surprise.
"These were our first positive test results in three weeks among our athletics programs, which since April have experienced a positivity rate of 1.7 percent," Cobb said. "As part of our protocols, we tested the individuals again Friday afternoon and were informed by our lab Friday night that none tested positive. They also retested the swabs from Thursday and all tested negative as well. It was at this point that the lab director informed our medical staff that a human error Friday morning caused the error in test results.
"The disappointing news is that we could have played on Saturday. More importantly, the positive news is we are not dealing with an outbreak at this time.”
The Panthers are getting set to host East Carolina Saturday.
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