4 ms·

A Negative Covid Test Has Never Been So Meaningless

40 points by fortran77 4y ago

zmpeg 4y ago
I have wondered for awhile if the tests developed 2+ years ago for the original strains are not accurate for omicron and the latest strains.
- CogitoCogito 4y ago
  If you're curious you don't need to just wonder. There is of course a lot of research looking into exactly these questions. Here is a summary by the FDA: https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/coronavirus-covid-19-and-medical-devices/sars-cov-2-viral-mutations-impact-covid-19-tests https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/coronavirus-covid-19-and...
- jjeaff 4y ago
  This article seems to be about the tests not detecting early enough. Which could be a test sensitivity issue or even could be a shift in how the new strains interact with our immune systems. I recently had COVID and found that the test showed a faint bar right after my first sign of symptoms. Because I had plenty of tests, I continuously tested the 4 in my household as symptoms progressed and receded. Although the visibility of the bar can't reliably be used to gauge level of infection, it did roughly track with my whole family's symptom severity and was confirmed with a PCR test. After months of using these tests, we never got a positive either until this point. These were the orange, made in China tests that the federal government is sending out for free. So while they may not signal early enough to do much good, they certainly seemed to work in our small example.
tomohawk 4y ago
- 4ensic 4y ago
  Anyone who cruises or travels internationally to certain nations. https://www.nytimes.com/article/coronavirus-travel-restrictions.html https://www.nytimes.com/article/coronavirus-travel-restricti...
  - yardstick 4y ago
    I believe the ops point was that if a covid test was optional, and you felt sick, you wouldn’t bother to get tested. Travel which mandates testing is a separate matter. That’s been my position for a while. I’m pro-vaccine, and pro-initial lockdown (only), and lived in London during the first years of the pandemic. At some point we just have to get on with our lives, we need to stop living in fear. We need to stop the them vs us divide.
    - vwcx 4y ago
      'Living in fear' is such a charged, politicized statement. Can you dissect what you mean by it? For me, testing before I visit my elderly parents isn't a decision made of fear - it's a basic precaution I can take, causes me no more than 5-10 mins of extra effort, and costs nothing to me (a privileged position provided by employer-subsidized insurance, of course). Is this fear making decisions on my behalf? Is this pragmatism prompted by fear?
      - yardstick 4y ago
        If your parents are vaccinated, and you are vaccinated, and you don’t have any symptoms then yes I would call it unnecessary worrying. Elderly parents are vulnerable to not just covid, but the cold and flu etc. That’s why elderly normally get free flu jabs. I never needed to take a test to know to stay away from people if I felt sick (family or work colleagues). I guess if I knew it wasn’t a transmittable sickness (which is normally quite obvious, eg headache, sunburn, hungover, muscle pain, etc) then I would still visit. Coughing, sneezing, etc anything involving fluids I’d probably just stay away. No test needed. Just common sense, same as before covid.
        4y ago
- schwartzworld 4y ago
  > who gets a covid text these days? Both my kids and my wife have had to do mandatory PCR testing every week for the last year for school, and the kids also do a weekly instant test. Now that work is making me go back in, I also will be testing regularly again. It's a lot more common than you think.
  - throwaway193948 4y ago
  - rasz 4y ago
    Very useful, result of the test will let everyone already infected know ... what exactly?
    - ThisIsMyAltFace 4y ago
      to stay home in order to avoid infecting other people?
    - iqkznnft 4y ago
      My job doesn't force tests, but if you choose to test yourself and test positive, you're asked to work from home. How is this not reasonable? It's getting a bit tiring hearing a certain corner of society complaining how minor inconveniences are oppressing them.
    - patrick451 4y ago
      Yeah, this whole testing thing has seemed like such a farce from the get go. Just another way to juice the fear porn.
  - tomohawk 4y ago
    If it is so dangerous to work in an area that I need to wear special safety equipment and get regular tests - no thanks. If I wanted that sort of career, I would have gone into medicine or some such. There is very little benefit to anyone for children under 15 to get vaxed or be tested. The disease works on the ace2 receptors, which are activated at puberty. The observational data bears this out. The number one cause of death for adults 18-45 in the US during the pandemic was opiod/drug overdoses. You wouldn't know it from the public health response.
- ouid 4y ago
  - patrick451 4y ago
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - ouid 4y ago
- francisofascii 4y ago
  > who gets a Covid test these days. Funny you ask, I took one this morning and tested positive. First time testing positive. I’ll admit I thought Covid was over at least until the fall. But I was feeling off and didn’t want coffee. Since we had a bunch of extra tests I said why not. Was kinda shocked. Now I am stuck in bed reading HN.
  - GekkePrutser 4y ago
    It's not over in terms of going around, it's still spreading a lot. It's just over as in not overloading the health systems. Indeed in the autumn things might be different again. But I hope all the mild infections during the summer will increase protection during the fall when immune systems are less strong. This is not a bad time to catch it anyway. We're all going to get it many times and right now there's plenty of care available for those who get really sick.
meatsauce 4y ago
- black_13 4y ago
- claudiawerner 4y ago
  I'm not a regular reader, but I'm interested in why you say that. Any particularly egregious examples in your opinion?
- athorax 4y ago
- fortran77 4y ago

40 points by fortran77 4y ago

I have wondered for awhile if the tests developed 2+ years ago for the original strains are not accurate for omicron and the latest strains.

CogitoCogito 4y ago
If you're curious you don't need to just wonder. There is of course a lot of research looking into exactly these questions. Here is a summary by the FDA: https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/coronavirus-covid-19-and-medical-devices/sars-cov-2-viral-mutations-impact-covid-19-tests https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/coronavirus-covid-19-and...
jjeaff 4y ago
This article seems to be about the tests not detecting early enough. Which could be a test sensitivity issue or even could be a shift in how the new strains interact with our immune systems. I recently had COVID and found that the test showed a faint bar right after my first sign of symptoms. Because I had plenty of tests, I continuously tested the 4 in my household as symptoms progressed and receded. Although the visibility of the bar can't reliably be used to gauge level of infection, it did roughly track with my whole family's symptom severity and was confirmed with a PCR test. After months of using these tests, we never got a positive either until this point. These were the orange, made in China tests that the federal government is sending out for free. So while they may not signal early enough to do much good, they certainly seemed to work in our small example.

tomohawk 4y ago

4ensic 4y ago
Anyone who cruises or travels internationally to certain nations. https://www.nytimes.com/article/coronavirus-travel-restrictions.html https://www.nytimes.com/article/coronavirus-travel-restricti...
- yardstick 4y ago
  I believe the ops point was that if a covid test was optional, and you felt sick, you wouldn’t bother to get tested. Travel which mandates testing is a separate matter. That’s been my position for a while. I’m pro-vaccine, and pro-initial lockdown (only), and lived in London during the first years of the pandemic. At some point we just have to get on with our lives, we need to stop living in fear. We need to stop the them vs us divide.
  - vwcx 4y ago
    'Living in fear' is such a charged, politicized statement. Can you dissect what you mean by it? For me, testing before I visit my elderly parents isn't a decision made of fear - it's a basic precaution I can take, causes me no more than 5-10 mins of extra effort, and costs nothing to me (a privileged position provided by employer-subsidized insurance, of course). Is this fear making decisions on my behalf? Is this pragmatism prompted by fear?
    - yardstick 4y ago
      If your parents are vaccinated, and you are vaccinated, and you don’t have any symptoms then yes I would call it unnecessary worrying. Elderly parents are vulnerable to not just covid, but the cold and flu etc. That’s why elderly normally get free flu jabs. I never needed to take a test to know to stay away from people if I felt sick (family or work colleagues). I guess if I knew it wasn’t a transmittable sickness (which is normally quite obvious, eg headache, sunburn, hungover, muscle pain, etc) then I would still visit. Coughing, sneezing, etc anything involving fluids I’d probably just stay away. No test needed. Just common sense, same as before covid.
      - 4y ago
schwartzworld 4y ago
> who gets a covid text these days? Both my kids and my wife have had to do mandatory PCR testing every week for the last year for school, and the kids also do a weekly instant test. Now that work is making me go back in, I also will be testing regularly again. It's a lot more common than you think.
- throwaway193948 4y ago
- rasz 4y ago
  Very useful, result of the test will let everyone already infected know ... what exactly?
  - ThisIsMyAltFace 4y ago
    to stay home in order to avoid infecting other people?
  - iqkznnft 4y ago
    My job doesn't force tests, but if you choose to test yourself and test positive, you're asked to work from home. How is this not reasonable? It's getting a bit tiring hearing a certain corner of society complaining how minor inconveniences are oppressing them.
  - patrick451 4y ago
    Yeah, this whole testing thing has seemed like such a farce from the get go. Just another way to juice the fear porn.
- tomohawk 4y ago
  If it is so dangerous to work in an area that I need to wear special safety equipment and get regular tests - no thanks. If I wanted that sort of career, I would have gone into medicine or some such. There is very little benefit to anyone for children under 15 to get vaxed or be tested. The disease works on the ace2 receptors, which are activated at puberty. The observational data bears this out. The number one cause of death for adults 18-45 in the US during the pandemic was opiod/drug overdoses. You wouldn't know it from the public health response.
ouid 4y ago
- patrick451 4y ago
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - ouid 4y ago
francisofascii 4y ago
> who gets a Covid test these days. Funny you ask, I took one this morning and tested positive. First time testing positive. I’ll admit I thought Covid was over at least until the fall. But I was feeling off and didn’t want coffee. Since we had a bunch of extra tests I said why not. Was kinda shocked. Now I am stuck in bed reading HN.
- GekkePrutser 4y ago
  It's not over in terms of going around, it's still spreading a lot. It's just over as in not overloading the health systems. Indeed in the autumn things might be different again. But I hope all the mild infections during the summer will increase protection during the fall when immune systems are less strong. This is not a bad time to catch it anyway. We're all going to get it many times and right now there's plenty of care available for those who get really sick.

meatsauce 4y ago

black_13 4y ago
claudiawerner 4y ago
I'm not a regular reader, but I'm interested in why you say that. Any particularly egregious examples in your opinion?
athorax 4y ago
fortran77 4y ago