3 ms·
The tests can tell you if you have covid-19. What they can't do, because they have such a high false negative rate, is tell you that you don't have it.
by DanBC 7y ago
The tests can tell you if you have covid-19. What they can't do, because they have such a high false negative rate, is tell you that you don't have it.
- macintux 7y agoThat’s fine. Get a preliminary test, rule it out if you can, and if it comes back positive then take other tests or self-isolate, or both. Beats the heck out of everyone hiding under their bed for months.
- o-__-o 7y agoBut if you catch co19 t-0 after leaving the testing site then you can spread it, right? So what is testing the world going to solve if no one is preventing the spread of contamination? Because the answer is that you will only overwhelm hospital resources Look at China.
- macintux 7y agoI don’t think anyone is proposing that testing is a magical cure for the overall problem; obviously you’d have to use testing in conjunction with treatment and isolation and presumably other tactics. However, this idea that testing is worthless is frankly bizarre. You can’t control what you can’t measure, and “number of people occupying hospital beds” is a very poor measure for a disease that spreads silently for weeks before symptoms emerge.
- DanBC 7y agoYou can't "rule it out", because when the test says "you don't have it" you may well have it. Some of the tests have a 20% to 40% false negative rate.
- macintux 7y agoThat’s unfortunate.