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Originally Posted by kgrund
I agree that false negatives have been more widely covered with PCR because false positives are not as prevalent due to the hypersensitivity of the test. The issue that is becoming more clear is the limited insight from a positive result. Though it is not technically a "false positive", it essentially is in terms of what determining whether the individual is at risk to the community at the time of testing.
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But wouldn't that be because we got a late start on testing then our infection got out of control and we didn't and still don't have the capacity? It seems like only in the late May to mid June timeframe when the infections were relatively low where turn around times was 24-48 hours.
Here is something I read the other day that basically says 40% of our tests were useless.
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Health experts say two days or less is optimal for returning Covid-19 test results to make them useful for stopping transmission. If test results take more than three days, people are unlikely to self-quarantine and getting in touch with the people they interact with during that time — potentially spreading virus — can be difficult.
“It’s really clear that if tests take more than 48 hours, you’ve lost the window for contact tracing,” Dr. Ashish Jha, professor of global health at Harvard University, said in an interview. “I think, basically, beyond 72 hours, the test is close to useless.”
A survey run by CNBC in partnership with Dynata, a global data and survey firm, suggests almost 40% of Americans had to wait more than three days for their results, rendering them — by Jha’s definition — useless.
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With that being said I am in total agreement we need to get past PCR testing and have quick reliable testing even ones we can take at home with instant results.