3 ms·

Are you sure about that? Can you explain to me what the wording from the CDC announcement means?

by nafix 5y ago

lpat 5y ago
If I understand correctly it means that the old tests tested only for covid and the new ones test for covid and influenza at the same time. This makes them more efficient because you won't have to test twice to detect each virus separately.
- nafix 5y ago
  That's not why they are decommissioning this test though. There's no reason that both this test, and a covid/influenza test cannot coexist. CDC is explicitly decommissioning this test, and it's not clear why in their announcement. I'm just trying to gain more context here. It's pretty easy to see how this could imply that the current PCR test could have issues.
  - cbsmith 5y ago
    They could coexist in a world with unlimited time and resources. We don't live in that world.
  - a254613e 5y ago
    It's encouraged to use test that can detect both to save both time and resources. It's literally in the announcement. If labs want they can still test them separately.
asabjorn 5y ago
If you go into the wayback machine WHO says in plain wording that the PCR false positive rate was higher than desired: https://web.archive.org/web/20210120083427/https://www.who.int/news/item/14-12-2020-who-information-notice-for-ivd-users https://web.archive.org/web/20210120083427/https://www.who.i...
- cbsmith 5y ago
  "Higher than desired" is a given. Particularly the early WHO tests had accuracy and sensitivity problems.
  - asabjorn 5y ago
    The consequences of this is not neutral because false positives were treated for Covid. No one knows what the consequences of that medical misapplication of treatment was.
cbsmith 5y ago
...and therein lies the problem.
detaro 5y ago
Which wording? The one quoted above? That means "if you are switching tests anyways, consider using one that does multiple things so you don't waste (somewhat) scarce and expensive testing capacity on double-testing"

Are you sure about that? Can you explain to me what the wording from the CDC announcement means?

by nafix 5y ago

Are you sure about that? Can you explain to me what the wording from the CDC announcement means?

lpat 5y ago

If I understand correctly it means that the old tests tested only for covid and the new ones test for covid and influenza at the same time. This makes them more efficient because you won't have to test twice to detect each virus separately.

nafix 5y ago
That's not why they are decommissioning this test though. There's no reason that both this test, and a covid/influenza test cannot coexist. CDC is explicitly decommissioning this test, and it's not clear why in their announcement. I'm just trying to gain more context here. It's pretty easy to see how this could imply that the current PCR test could have issues.
- cbsmith 5y ago
  They could coexist in a world with unlimited time and resources. We don't live in that world.
- a254613e 5y ago
  It's encouraged to use test that can detect both to save both time and resources. It's literally in the announcement. If labs want they can still test them separately.

asabjorn 5y ago

If you go into the wayback machine WHO says in plain wording that the PCR false positive rate was higher than desired: https://web.archive.org/web/20210120083427/https://www.who.int/news/item/14-12-2020-who-information-notice-for-ivd-users https://web.archive.org/web/20210120083427/https://www.who.i...

cbsmith 5y ago
"Higher than desired" is a given. Particularly the early WHO tests had accuracy and sensitivity problems.
- asabjorn 5y ago
  The consequences of this is not neutral because false positives were treated for Covid. No one knows what the consequences of that medical misapplication of treatment was.

cbsmith 5y ago

...and therein lies the problem.

detaro 5y ago

Which wording? The one quoted above? That means "if you are switching tests anyways, consider using one that does multiple things so you don't waste (somewhat) scarce and expensive testing capacity on double-testing"