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How does Italy test for Covid-19? [video]
- s9w 6y agoBut isn't the problem apparent? Many people are tested with a very low prevalence and a Test that has at least some false-positive rate. This statistical problem has been known and discussed for decades now, for example in the field of women breast cancer. There we have discussion about unnecessary cancer operations as a result. But come covid, mentioning this gets you called a Nazi in my Country. The current positive rate of tests in Germany are about 0.8%. Over 99% of the tests are negative. We know that the test has about 1% false positive rate from official numbers. That is under ideal conditions. But no one points out the obvious.
- lbeltrame 6y agoA major problem with testing in Italy is when one is positive and then recovers from the disease. It is one of the few countries in the world that requires a double negative test to let you go out of isolation (2 negative tests within 24 hours). As the evidence now is clear that presence of RNA does not equate necessarily to infectious virus (good correlation until 7 days from symptom onset, the declining, and over 15 days here is no more correlation: in people with milder symptoms this happens earlier), and that people with milder symptoms usually clear viral RNA very slowly from their throats, this causes (and caused) a lot of people to be stuck in isolation for weeks, or months (the negative record is a 4 year old child who was confined for almost three months). The expert panel of the government won't change their guideline out of "precaution", despite the scientific evidence saying something different.