People swabbed for COVID-19 at Citadel Mall on Aug. 11 encouraged to get retested

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- If you were tested for COVID-19 at the Citadel Mall in Colorado Springs on Tuesday, you should get another test just to be on the safe side.

On the first day of testing at a new center in the parking lot of the Citadel Mall this week, an inspection by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment found that there were possible "temperature control inconsistencies" of testing samples.

Mako Medical, which runs the clinic, is testing the samples to see if the temperature impacted them.

El Paso County Public Health says "out of an abundance of caution," people who were tested on Tuesday should go back to be retested. KRDO has learned 355 people were tested that day.

Aaron Meir was one of them. He says he got his Tuesday test result back within 30 hours. El Paso County Public Health told him it was positive.

“I was having symptoms, feeling pretty sick on Monday," Meir said. "I went through and did the 'poke your brain' test on Tuesday.”

Meir says he then got a call from the Colorado Department of Public Health Thursday morning, letting him know his test may have been compromised. Later Thursday, he went back to the free testing site at the Citadel Mall to get tested again. Though his symptoms are milder now, he's convinced his second test will also be positive.

"Really I was only pretty sick for 24 hours, body aches and stuff like that," he said. "I lost my sense of smell, so things are kind of strange right now.”

Public health says the original issue has been corrected, and agencies "have full confidence in the site procedures going forward."

Despite the inconvenience, Meir is thankful he was notified to get re-tested quickly.

The state told KRDO, as of Thursday afternoon, it had contacted all but four of 355 people affected.