Northshore Clinical Labs (NCL), the Chicago-based company Latin uses to COVID-test students and faculty, is currently under investigation by several state agencies for unreliable services.

NCL, unaffiliated with NorthShore University HealthSystem, has received over $165 million in federal funds. The company runs testing sites in a number of states, including Illinois, Nevada, and California, whose health departments are now accumulating consumer complaints, including delayed results or absence of results altogether. One woman reported having received multiple, contradictory COVID test results from the lab after submitting just a single test.

CBS interviewed former NCL employees who disclosed that their co-workers sometimes came to work under the influence of drugs. They also shared images of bags of samples being thrown out before having been tested.

In response to the opening of state investigations, NCL said, “Our goal is to reassure all clients, patients and regulatory agencies that the actions Northshore took to mitigate the volume of incoming test samples and work through the backlog was successful, and that we have resumed normal test processing that can provide results within 72 hours of samples arriving at our labs.”

Latin’s Director of Communications and Strategic Initiatives Katie O’Dea shared a letter with The Forum that the lab sent to the school following widespread coverage of their company’s slow and unreliable services.

NCL said, “We took numerous actions to mitigate [the increase in sample volume] and [are] proud to say that we have now resumed normal operations.” It is unclear if the lab’s “normal operations” mean improved accuracy and timeliness for customers.

NCL blamed the Omicron surge for their faulty services, but many customer complaints had been submitted long before the spike hit.

As of February 1, the University of Nevada-Reno (UNR) has dropped its contract with NCL. A statement on UNR’s website read, “The University terminated its contract with Northshore Clinical Laboratories due to our institution’s dissatisfaction with Northshore’s service in helping to conduct on-campus COVID-19 testing for our students, faculty and staff.”

According to CBS, the city of Berwyn, Illinois dropped its contract with the lab back in 2020, and now the lab itself, in an effort to reduce its workload, has terminated connections with all third-party pop-up sites through which they received many of their specimens.

Latin, however, is still sending samples to NCL.

When Latin returned from winter break, all students and faculty—with the exception of those who had recently tested positive for COVID—were PCR and rapid antigen tested by NCL. According to Latin’s COVID policies, all unvaccinated individuals are still tested weekly.

Latin’s Senior Medical Advisor Dr. Leslie Cordes did not seem concerned about Latin’s partnership with NCL, despite her knowledge of customer complaints. She said, “NCL has prioritized testing in schools as a way to maintain in-person learning.”

This was not the experience of another Chicago independent school.

Like Latin, Chicago Jewish Day School (CJDS) tested their students through NCL upon returning for their second semester. All students were both antigen and PCR tested over a period of four days. The antigen results came back in minutes, and after witnessing negative results, some families received email notifications of positive antigen results, misreported by NCL.

Over the same four testing days, CJDS families identified 17 positive cases through testing at non-NCL sites, and the school’s samples to NCL—for those same individuals—all came back PCR-negative. CJDS stopped using NCL after their first round of testing.

It is possible that Latin’s results have also been somewhat flawed.

After submitting a sample, one Latin sophomore had her test “canceled,” with no explanation from the lab, despite NCL’s statement to Latin saying, “We have attempted to contact everyone who sent us a test sample, even if we were unable to process that sample and provide a result.”

Junior Anna Hynes received a positive rapid result from NCL, missed a day of school, received a negative PCR result from the lab for the same sample, and returned to school the next day. While it is possible that the rapid test showed a false positive, NCL’s pattern of poor services makes Latin’s next steps in situations like Anna’s unclear.

Regardless of their partnership with a potentially untrustworthy lab, Latin has managed to safely welcome students and teachers back into the building, raising the question of whether testing is even necessary.

To Upper School English teacher Jim Joyce, this news is “worrisome.” Mr. Joyce thought that individuals must continue their own mitigation practices such as mask wearing and hand washing considering NCL’s unreliability. He also thought Latin should look to other potential testing options.

COVID testing with NCL comes at no cost to Latin or to families or faculty, according to Chief Financial Officer Michael Szczepanek. Still, potentially inaccurate test results could leave students or teachers unnecessarily absent from classes. On the flip side, unidentified positive individuals might attend school when testing should have kept them home.

Like Mr. Joyce, junior Amanda Valenzuela was also concerned about Latin’s reliance on NCL for regular testing. She said, “I would hope that the people who Latin entrusts with the school’s health would be qualified and the best option to keep us safe.”