Additional lab tests cast uncertainty on the COVID-19 status of an 8-year-old Oxnard child who initially tested positive for the virus on Thursday, health officials said.

Ventura County Public Health Officer Dr. Robert Levin earlier said it appeared the case was Ventura’s County first community transmission, meaning person-to-person spread in the community.

But two tests on the child conducted by Children’s Hospital Los Angeles on Friday and Saturday came back negative, hospital officials said.

Ventura County 8-year-old's second COVID-19 test shows negative

The original specimen that produced the positive result on Thursday at the Ventura County Public Health Lab was tested again in the county lab on Saturday. This time it came back negative.

The tests push the child’s COVID-19 status and the possibility of hard evidence of community spread into question.

“Ventura County Public Health can no longer confirm a case of community transmission at this time,” said Levin in a written statement. “This is good news. It may put us further ahead on the curve of preventing the widespread outbreak of COVID-19 in Ventura County.”

Previous coverage: 8-year-old child's COVID-19 case likely area's first community transmission, officials say

Officials of Children's Hospital Los Angeles released a statement on the case Sunday that cited all three negative tests.

"CHLA believes the first Ventura County result was a false positive," they said.

It's unclear how the process will play out in determining if the coronavirus is present or not.

The original test result had already been sent for confirmation to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Public health officials now await that result but don’t know when that will happen or if the federal agency will ultimately ask for more tests on the child.

Levin declined to speculate Sunday on the case.

"We're waiting for the CDC," he said.

Local public health officials are also trying to figure out why the initial test result differed from the second one though both involved the same sample. Four other Ventura County residents have tested positive for the coronavirus and three of those tests await confirmation from the CDC.

Oxnard boy in fair condition, in hospital

Original reports of the positive test attracted waves of attention partly because of the child's age. Of 288 cases in California as of Saturday, only five involved children 17 and younger. Of the five cases reported in Ventura, the child was the first involving a child.

The boy also has an underlying medical condition that officials originally said could have increased vulnerability to the coronavirus.

Roberto Juarez, CEO of the Clinicas del Camino Real system, identified the child as an 8-year-old who had been treated in the health system and also at an area hospital.

Ashley Bautista, Ventura County public information officer, confirmed the child had been admitted to St. John's Regional Medical Center in Oxnard and later transferred to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

"The child is currently still in isolation," CHLA officials said Sunday, "and being treated for an unrelated underlying condition, for which team members are continuing the use of all precautions necessary for treatment."

The original positive test spawned concerns the virus could be spreading in the community. The county's other cases all involved people exposed during travel.

The test also triggered fears about exposure though public health officials had said those risks appeared low.

Child attended Haycox Elementary in Oxnard

The child attended Art Haycox Elementary School in Oxnard. Christine Walker, superintendent of the Hueneme Elementary School District, said the student had not been in school since Feb. 28 because of the underlying health condition.

Public health officials said that absence of more than two weeks was key because the incubation period for the coronavirus is believed to be a maximum of 14 days. They said the risk of exposure was low and did not recommend quarantines.

Still, the school district announced plans to extend an already-planned one-week closure of schools through the end of spring break with students returning on April 20.

On Sunday morning, Walker reacted to news of the negative lab results.

"There is cautious sense of relief, and we will be waiting to hear the results from the CDC," she said in an email. "We will be evaluating school closures early this week. At this time we have not made changes."

The boy had been treated at two Clinicas health centers in Oxnard before the virus was detected. Dr. Gagan Pawar, chief medical officer for Clinicas, said COVID-19 wasn't suspected because there was no travel history or known exposure that would suggest the condition.

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Pawar said 11 staff members at the two Oxnard sites, including several doctors, are being asked to monitor their health. That will continue until there is a final determination on the test results.

At St. John's Regional Medical Center in Oxnard, all hospital personnel who had contact with the child are being monitored, said spokeswoman Megan Maloney. The hospital, out of an abundance caution, placed several employees in a self-quarantine that was completed for at least some over the weekend.

None showed symptoms and those who were tested for the virus showed no signs of the illness, Maloney said.

"Due to an abundance of caution, our employees whom were tested and quarantined will return (Monday) masked and monitored, while we await the final test results from the CDC," she said.

On a different issue, Bautista urged people not to pursue testing for the coronavirus if they don’t show symptoms – fever, cough and shortness of breath.

She said the priority should be people with symptoms in high-risk groups like the elderly and people with chronic conditions like heart disease, diabetes and lung disease.

“There are people who are showing up in ERs with absolutely no symptoms asking to be tested,” she said, noting that the people who genuinely need testing should go through their primary care doctors.

She said testing when not necessary increases the odds of capacity issues.

“We don’t have an unlimited amount of tests,” she said. “No one does across the country.”

Tom Kisken covers health care and other news for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at tom.kisken@vcstar.com or 805-437-0255.

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