Head of North Carolina health department stepping down

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina public health officials have announced a major reporting error in the number of coronavirus tests conducted since the start of the pandemic.

North Carolina previously reported having more than 2 million COVID-19 tests performed. Officials now say that is 200,000 more than were actually performed. They blame LabCorp.

DHHS Secretary Mandy Cohen says the company gave different numbers when it reported electronically and manually. She noted the error doesn’t affect data on key metrics such as the number of confirmed cases and deaths.

LabCorp is one of two nationwide lab chains that are the backbone of COVID testing in the United States.

Copyright 2020, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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