Rhode Island received 113 false positive COVID-19 test results from private lab

The Rhode Island Department of Health reported on Friday that the state had received 113 false-positive COVID-19 test results from a private laboratory.

Health officials say that 113 individuals were told they were COVID-19 positive when they were actually negative.

RIDOH says the laboratory is located in New York and is a partner lab of East Side Clinical Laboratory.

These false-positive results were reported between July 9 and July 14, according to RIDOH.

RIDOH says the lab identified the issue with the accuracy and concluded that the initial sample handling in the lab produced the false positives with the batch.

RIDOH says 82 Rhode Islanders with positive results were included in that batch and received a positive result when retested.

The department says it will update the data webpage to reflect the true positive count.

The RIDOH told NBC 10's Katie Davis that some of those false positive results included nursing home staff, but it is unclear how many.