4 ms·

I'd retest. you either have some of the worst luck ever, or you had a false positive test.

by abfan1127 6y ago

dawnerd 6y ago
Likely part of a grouped test - which absolutely should have been retested by the lab.
- copperx 6y ago
  I don't understand how grouped testing makes any sense when such a large percentage of individual tests come out positive. I mean, if you group 10 samples from a test center, what's the probability of one of them being positive? Isn't it close to 1.0?
  - dawnerd 6y ago
    Depends on their group test size and what factors they consider when they decide to group or not. It's why they ask if you're a first responder for example (least they do around here).
djsumdog 6y ago
I see stories like this constantly: https://www.wsmv.com/news/mt-juliet-man-says-even-with-no-test-he-s-informed-he-is-covid-19/article_f8cf60e6-c886-11ea-8ae0-4ffb48dc9a46.html https://www.wsmv.com/news/mt-juliet-man-says-even-with-no-te... It's sometimes someone driving to a testing site and then leaving the line. If that's true and they're not rechecking your personal information at the swab, it's unsettling because then everyone's results are now off-by-one (or more). There are other cases where people have been told they have COVID after never even having been in line for a test. Not that they might have it via contact tracing, but that they tested positive from a test they never took (or got in line for). Not to mention there was the cast of a Goat and an Orange testing positive in Tanzania: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/coronavirus-tanzania-test-kits-suspicion-goat-pawpaw-positive-a9501291.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/coronavirus-... What is going on with these tests?
- ianferrel 6y ago
  You see stories like this constantly because salacious stories like this grab eyeballs. The actual incidence of this kind of error is incredibly small.
refurb 6y ago
Yup. Unless OP had symptoms, there is a chance that’s a false positive. There are people who have flown on flights with actively infectious cases of Covid. Following hygiene practices, none of the passengers got infected.
- jhamilton 6y ago
  The virus has a multi-week incubation period, during which you're infectious despite not yet showing symptoms. Even if you never show symptoms, you can still carry and transmit the virus. Symptoms (or the lack thereof) are not an indicator of whether or not someone has contracted it.
  - refurb 6y ago
    Yeah, I know. OP has stated they've left their home twice in the past 5 months, the last time 4 weeks ago and they just tested positive. The chance of them being an asymptomatic carrier is actually pretty low, otherwise we wouldn't be doing 14 day quarantines. Is it possible OP is a rare edge case? Sure. But not likely.
    - Zancarius 6y ago
      > The chance of them being an asymptomatic carrier is actually pretty low I'm thinking this may be true. Dr. John Campbell has a fantastic video[1] that suggests we may be overlooking one possible symptom in otherwise asymptomatic populations: Skin rashes. That doesn't mean, of course, that everyone gets skin rashes with COVID-19, but it appears that it may be an early clinical feature of the disease even in people who are otherwise spared the worst. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeKDzwhi8nw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeKDzwhi8nw
- copperx 6y ago
  Are false positives common with PCR tests? How would that even happen? Does anybody have any insight?
  - 6y ago
Shorel 6y ago
I don't think it is bad luck. People doing deliveries are probably the most at risk right now, and the outside of deliveries, the plastic bags, I always treat them as if they are full of Covid-19. And I'm sure most people don't go to restaurants any more, but they get food deliveries all the time. I cook instead. One risk less.

I'd retest. you either have some of the worst luck ever, or you had a false positive test.

dawnerd 6y ago

Likely part of a grouped test - which absolutely should have been retested by the lab.

copperx 6y ago
I don't understand how grouped testing makes any sense when such a large percentage of individual tests come out positive. I mean, if you group 10 samples from a test center, what's the probability of one of them being positive? Isn't it close to 1.0?
- dawnerd 6y ago
  Depends on their group test size and what factors they consider when they decide to group or not. It's why they ask if you're a first responder for example (least they do around here).

djsumdog 6y ago

I see stories like this constantly: https://www.wsmv.com/news/mt-juliet-man-says-even-with-no-test-he-s-informed-he-is-covid-19/article_f8cf60e6-c886-11ea-8ae0-4ffb48dc9a46.html https://www.wsmv.com/news/mt-juliet-man-says-even-with-no-te... It's sometimes someone driving to a testing site and then leaving the line. If that's true and they're not rechecking your personal information at the swab, it's unsettling because then everyone's results are now off-by-one (or more). There are other cases where people have been told they have COVID after never even having been in line for a test. Not that they might have it via contact tracing, but that they tested positive from a test they never took (or got in line for). Not to mention there was the cast of a Goat and an Orange testing positive in Tanzania: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/coronavirus-tanzania-test-kits-suspicion-goat-pawpaw-positive-a9501291.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/coronavirus-... What is going on with these tests?

ianferrel 6y ago
You see stories like this constantly because salacious stories like this grab eyeballs. The actual incidence of this kind of error is incredibly small.

refurb 6y ago

Yup. Unless OP had symptoms, there is a chance that’s a false positive. There are people who have flown on flights with actively infectious cases of Covid. Following hygiene practices, none of the passengers got infected.

jhamilton 6y ago
The virus has a multi-week incubation period, during which you're infectious despite not yet showing symptoms. Even if you never show symptoms, you can still carry and transmit the virus. Symptoms (or the lack thereof) are not an indicator of whether or not someone has contracted it.
- refurb 6y ago
  Yeah, I know. OP has stated they've left their home twice in the past 5 months, the last time 4 weeks ago and they just tested positive. The chance of them being an asymptomatic carrier is actually pretty low, otherwise we wouldn't be doing 14 day quarantines. Is it possible OP is a rare edge case? Sure. But not likely.
  - Zancarius 6y ago
    > The chance of them being an asymptomatic carrier is actually pretty low I'm thinking this may be true. Dr. John Campbell has a fantastic video[1] that suggests we may be overlooking one possible symptom in otherwise asymptomatic populations: Skin rashes. That doesn't mean, of course, that everyone gets skin rashes with COVID-19, but it appears that it may be an early clinical feature of the disease even in people who are otherwise spared the worst. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeKDzwhi8nw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeKDzwhi8nw
copperx 6y ago
Are false positives common with PCR tests? How would that even happen? Does anybody have any insight?
- 6y ago

Shorel 6y ago

I don't think it is bad luck. People doing deliveries are probably the most at risk right now, and the outside of deliveries, the plastic bags, I always treat them as if they are full of Covid-19. And I'm sure most people don't go to restaurants any more, but they get food deliveries all the time. I cook instead. One risk less.