As a precaution, the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services has discontinued the use of the Curative COVID-19 PCR tests at county-supported pop-up testing sites. The change was made after a review of the data that prompted a recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration alert about the possibility of false negative results.

Curative provided a limited number of tests at county-supported pop-up testing sites beginning in mid-December. From Dec. 13 through Jan. 2, approximately 24,241 Curative tests were administered, comprising approximately 10% of all COVID-19 tests administered during that time. The Curative tests will be replaced with Fulgent Genetics tests.

All COVID-19 tests have a risk of false negative results, which means an individual may test negative when they actually have COVID-19. It occurs because of the sensitivity of the samples and depends on how well a sample was collected and the concentration of viral RNA in the sample. There is no reliable way to detect early infection, meaning that infection often spreads before symptoms develop. Nevertheless, PCR tests, including the Curative test, remain better at detecting disease than other tests, including rapid tests, county health officials said.

Anyone with COVID-19 symptoms or who has been exposed to someone with COVID-19 should get tested.

For information, visit covid19.lacounty.gov/testing.