4 ms·

We are testing too many vaccinated people who lack Covid symptoms

5 points by throwkeep 5y ago

version_five 5y ago
What a breath of fresh air and common sense. I think there are so many entrenched interests in seeing case numbers go up and the pandemic continue that, as the article points out, the we've forgotten the goal of minimizing harm and made it about counting virus particles. I've seen what the article talks about, about critics of vaccines using positive tests as evidence the vaccine doesn't work. Let's hope this gets the attention it deserves and that for once "follow the science" will be used positively to stop focusing on an irrelevant segment of testing.
- rileymat2 5y ago
  The linked article slightly misrepresents the linked cdc guidance. In the Washington post article it claims the cdc says vaccinated people should not be tested. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/07/21/covid-testing-vaccinated/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/07/21/covid-test... >The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has officially decreed that fully vaccinated people should not be tested for the coronavirus in the absence of symptoms. In the cdc link it says they “can” refrain from routine testing, not “should”. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/fully-vaccinated-guidance.html https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/fully-vac... >Fully vaccinated people can: >Refrain from routine screening testing if feasible And you can see if you follow the link, there is a "should" section below the "can" section.
didjathinkmess 5y ago
Sure, works for me. Stop PCR testing of the asymptomatic vaccinated. As long as you also stop testing asymptomatic people who have already had the virus and the asymptomatic unvaccinated. Oh, you only want to stop testing and counting asymptomatic vaccinated? Sounds like another way to skew the numbers yet again to make vaccines look more effective than they are. Yet again you say? Yes: -Just like in January when the WHO reminded test facilities if the symptoms don't match the PCR test results, you should re-test. Look at how much the case numbers dropped after that. -Or in May when the CDC stopped counting breakthrough cases that didn't require hospitalization or deaths. So you can test positive, get sick but stay home, asymptomatically spread the virus to others. You could actually be a super spreader but nobody recognizes your case because you're invisible to the data being collected. If the author gets their wish, Here's what's likely to happen: health authorities stop testing altogether for the vaccinated only (even though they can still contract, get sick from and spread COVID - albeit with less viral load so there's less of a chance of spread). Data will show that 100% of COVID cases comes from the unvaccinated. Both vaccinated and unvaccinated are asymptomatic, have very low possibility of transmission, but can still infect you and can still spread. But one group is accounted for in the data and one is invisible. Now does this sound like a good idea? It's anti-science quackery. The author's other points are sound. Make this more about viral load than about detecting a single viral particle, I'm all about that. Without a change like this, the pandemic goes on forever they correctly observe. Where was the author a year ago? Honestly a view like this would have probably been censored back then. There's still time to make common sense changes in testing like measuring viral load instead of searching for a single viral particle with a high cycle count. But not testing or tracking the vaccinated who can still spread is lunacy.

5 points by throwkeep 5y ago

What a breath of fresh air and common sense. I think there are so many entrenched interests in seeing case numbers go up and the pandemic continue that, as the article points out, the we've forgotten the goal of minimizing harm and made it about counting virus particles. I've seen what the article talks about, about critics of vaccines using positive tests as evidence the vaccine doesn't work. Let's hope this gets the attention it deserves and that for once "follow the science" will be used positively to stop focusing on an irrelevant segment of testing.

rileymat2 5y ago
The linked article slightly misrepresents the linked cdc guidance. In the Washington post article it claims the cdc says vaccinated people should not be tested. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/07/21/covid-testing-vaccinated/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/07/21/covid-test... >The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has officially decreed that fully vaccinated people should not be tested for the coronavirus in the absence of symptoms. In the cdc link it says they “can” refrain from routine testing, not “should”. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/fully-vaccinated-guidance.html https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/fully-vac... >Fully vaccinated people can: >Refrain from routine screening testing if feasible And you can see if you follow the link, there is a "should" section below the "can" section.

didjathinkmess 5y ago

Sure, works for me. Stop PCR testing of the asymptomatic vaccinated. As long as you also stop testing asymptomatic people who have already had the virus and the asymptomatic unvaccinated. Oh, you only want to stop testing and counting asymptomatic vaccinated? Sounds like another way to skew the numbers yet again to make vaccines look more effective than they are. Yet again you say? Yes: -Just like in January when the WHO reminded test facilities if the symptoms don't match the PCR test results, you should re-test. Look at how much the case numbers dropped after that. -Or in May when the CDC stopped counting breakthrough cases that didn't require hospitalization or deaths. So you can test positive, get sick but stay home, asymptomatically spread the virus to others. You could actually be a super spreader but nobody recognizes your case because you're invisible to the data being collected. If the author gets their wish, Here's what's likely to happen: health authorities stop testing altogether for the vaccinated only (even though they can still contract, get sick from and spread COVID - albeit with less viral load so there's less of a chance of spread). Data will show that 100% of COVID cases comes from the unvaccinated. Both vaccinated and unvaccinated are asymptomatic, have very low possibility of transmission, but can still infect you and can still spread. But one group is accounted for in the data and one is invisible. Now does this sound like a good idea? It's anti-science quackery. The author's other points are sound. Make this more about viral load than about detecting a single viral particle, I'm all about that. Without a change like this, the pandemic goes on forever they correctly observe. Where was the author a year ago? Honestly a view like this would have probably been censored back then. There's still time to make common sense changes in testing like measuring viral load instead of searching for a single viral particle with a high cycle count. But not testing or tracking the vaccinated who can still spread is lunacy.