Home » Santa Clarita News » Coronavirus » Valencia COVID-19 Testing Facility Under Investigation After Whistleblower Allegations
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Governor Gavin Newsom touring the Valencia COVID-19 testing site with Secretary of the California Health and Human Services Dr. Mark Ghaly. Photo Courtesy of the Governor Newsom's Office.

Valencia COVID-19 Testing Facility Under Investigation After Whistleblower Allegations

A COVID-19 testing facility in Valencia has become the focus of a state investigation after several whistleblower reports of improper practices and inconclusive tests came to light.

The investigation comes after a story released by CBS13, which worked alongside former and current employees to bring forward allegations of improper procedure and a remarkably high rate of inconclusive tests coming out of the facility.

The lab is run by PerkinElmer, a Massachusetts-based diagnostics company that partnered with California to improve COVID-19 testing efficiency and capacity, according to the governor’s office.

“We take seriously any and all complaints or allegations of wrongdoing at the laboratory we oversee with our vendor, PerkinElmer; high-quality test results for underserved Californians are our top priority,” said Kate Folmar, spokeswoman for the California Health and Human Services Agency. “We have deployed a team of state laboratory experts to the laboratory to investigate the allegations.”

Governor Gavin Newsom spoke at the 25 million COVID-19 testing facility in Valencia on Oct. 30 of last year, noting that the new facility was expected to significantly increase the state’s testing capacity.

At the time, California officials announced that the Valencia PerkinElmer lab was expected to be able to process up to 150,000 test kits daily, focusing on the most commonly used polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, which isolates genetic material from a swab sample, according to the governor’s office.

However, CBS13 reports that the site is only processing an average of fewer than 20,000 tests a day.

The Valencia lab was expected to increase the state’s testing capacity by a minimum of 75 percent, Newsom said at the time.

Soon after becoming active, the Valencia testing facility began releasing an unusually high number of COVID-19 tests with inconclusive results, as commented on by California health officials last fall.

“We did identify that a higher number than expected (number) of tests in the first week came back inconclusive,” said California Health Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly in a November 2020 press conference.

CBS13 also reported that the over half-dozen whistleblowers they spoke to provided evidence of “systemic problems inside the state lab and pointed to contamination, constantly changing protocols as well as unlicensed and inadequately trained staff as the reason for the high number of invalid and inconclusive results.”

In response to the whistleblower allegations, PerkinElmer has sworn to cooperate fully with the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) investigation in order to continue operating “at the highest of standards,” according to company spokesperson Fara Goldberg.

“At the Valencia laboratory, dedicated individuals at both PerkinElmer and CDPH have worked extremely hard to open the facility and ramp up testing over the past several months in order to meet the State’s testing demands,” Goldberg said in a prepared statement. “We take any complaints or allegations of wrongdoing seriously and are fully cooperating with California to investigate the issues raised on the report last night and will continue to be fully transparent with CDPH on any concerns they have.”

The $25 million lab and $1.7 billion contract with PerkinElmer requires the facility to process up to 150,000 COVID tests daily by March, returning results in 24 to 48 hours. Records obtained by CBS13 indicate that far fewer tests are being processed on a daily basis, despite payment to the contrary.

“The state’s contract with PerkinElmer contains strong contractual language to ensure that we protect the state and taxpayers,” Folmar said. “We need to let the laboratory experts do their work and see if complaints are substantiated — and then the state will take any action that may be merited.”


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Valencia COVID-19 Testing Facility Under Investigation After Whistleblower Allegations

10 comments

  1. Not shocked by this whistleblowers information….

  2. Great job, Newsom.
    Here are my questions, “Was an environmental impact study done before this lab was built?” and, “Why weren’t the residents of Santa Clarita given an opportunity to attend a public City planning meeting to express their concerns and ask questions about this lab??”.

    • Why is this lab referred to as being in Valencia? It is not, it is in Castaic. It is in an industrial park west of the I 5. Valencia city limits end at the freeway. I know Santa Clarita would like to claim it as part of Valencia but it clearly is part of Castaic. Facts matter!

    • Blow it out your trumpbag. What a bunch of whiny, spoiled, self indulged, under educated, poor losers. No matter how many times you post your repetitive politically motivated (only) crap, you will not overturn the election and you will not recall Newsom. Now you all go to church on Sunday and continue pretending to be those “Good” Christians who only care about people, until there is money involved. Maybe we should do an environmental impact report on your mouths. Seems to be a constant stream of sewage

      • Bravo! Love this! I couldn’t have said it better or as unfiltered. Every time I read these comments, I think: do they not realize that their verbiage says more about who they are rather than whatever point they are trying to make in their angry tirade, Do they not realize how embarrassing they are by revealing their true uneducated, uninformed and disrespectful persona? Everyone has a right to their opinion but the way it is expressed will have more of a powerful impact if it is not cloaked in epithets and derogatory insults.

      • Hello Dean,
        Please don’t lump all Christians together. Just like in any other segment of the population, there are good Christians and bad Christians. Racists are people who make conclusions about an entire race based on actions of some. It sounds like you are doing the same. Being as progressive and educated as you are, I would imagine you are not a racist. Please don’t make conclusion about an entire religion either. You should judge people on an individual basis. I am a Christian, but I am not a democrat nor Republican. I look at the facts and make my decisions based on facts.
        Maybe you are not as progressive as you think you are. I will pray that you become less hateful and make your judgements based on character rather than on generalizations.

  3. Santa Clarita residents weren’t informed about this because the lab is not in Santa Clarita

  4. Nice work elected officials! Follow the money!

  5. It is, in fact, in Valencia. That industrial park is considered Valencia.

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About Jade Aubuchon

A Santa Clarita native, Jade has spent her whole life involved in community outreach. After graduating from Learning Post High in 2015, she went on to College of the Canyons to pursue a double major in English and Marketing. Jade spent several years as a ballroom dance performer for a local studio and has performed at public and private events throughout Santa Clarita. As KHTS Co-News Director Jade oversees the KHTS news team, which covers all the latest news impacting Santa Clarita. Along with covering and writing her own news stories, Jade can be heard broadcasting the daily local news every weekday morning and afternoon drive-time twice an hour on KHTS 98.1FM and AM-1220. Jade is also instrumental in reporting on-the-scene local emergencies, covering them on-air and via Facebook Live and YouTube. Another dimension to Jade’s on-air skills and writing are her regular political and celebrity interviews, including her bi-monthly interview with our Congressman Mike Garcia and many other local politicians and community leaders.