April 18, 2020 | 4: 55pm
Enlarge Image
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
Reuters/Tami Chappell
A “glaring scientific breakdown” at the CDC’s main laboratory was behind the federal agency’s failure to quickly make a coronavirus test kit, according to a new report.
One of the three test components became contaminated because the way the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention laboratory put the kits together violated sound manufacturing practices, The Washington Post reported, quoting unnamed scientists.
The paper said there was likely cross contamination because the chemical mixtures were put together into testing kits in a lab space that was also dealing with synthetic coronavirus material.
The Food and Drug Administration also concluded the CDC violated its own laboratory standards, according to the paper.
It took the CDC more than a month to straighten out the assembly problems, which worsened nationwide delays in testing for COVID-19.
A CDC spokesman told the paper that the agency had “implemented enhanced quality control to address the issue.”
