Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine Tests Positive, Then Negative for Covid-19 (opens in new tab)

(npr.org)

12 pointslordvon5y ago8 comments

8 comments

chx5y ago

https://blog.plan99.net/pseudo-epidemics-7603b2da839 ...

The false positive test was for antigens. Tests like that are known to be less accurate: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/05/coronavirus-antigen-...

The two negatives were PCR tests. Those are different from antigen tests. The blog post you've linked says there is a problem with false positives with PCR tests, but that doesn't seem to be relevant here, given that both of those results are negative.

maskedinvader5y ago

Curious why this is interesting and upvoted so much here on HN. False positive tests or false negative tests both could explain what happened.

mc325y ago

Because antigen are cheaper but have higher error rates, PCR tests are more expensive but more accurate. Some people, I think B Gates among them, are proposing making antigen available to everyone and expanding capacity to 30MM/week.

So this could illustrate some issues that people should bear in mind when considering the antigen policy.

somewhereoutth5y ago

A distinction needs to be made between test accuracy and test sensitivity. Antigen tests or similar rapid testing may not be as sensitive, so may only detect very high viral loads - but if they are cheap and easy enough to test daily then this is not a problem, so long as they are taken every day.

Apparently viral load ramps up really fast, like hours, until the immune response kicks in, and it is at that high titre that you are most infectious. If everyone tested everyday, and isolated on a positive, then this could all be over by Christmas.

losvedir5y ago

Errors in which sense? False positives like here, which can then be resolved with the better PCR test, are much less of a concern than false negatives.

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