I was having a conversation with a health official earlier this afternoon and I don’t know how many other states are dealing with this, but one thing we’re seeing a trend is quite a few ‘false positives’, Which is causing us a little bit of pandemonium. We’re seeing residents test positive for C/19, but only to find out they actually are in fact negative, after retesting When their symptoms are contested. So ‘Subject A’ initial first test shows positive, their second retest shows negative, and when you’re testing XYZ amount of people per day, how many false positives are misconstrued versus showing the actual real numbers of those who are officially contaminated.
Another question I asked, “What leads to a false positive?” And the answer that was submitted to me, was either these tests A.) Are ‘defective’, B.) Not being properly administered [Which seems unlikely] or C.)Contaminated through improper storage.
So here’s what I’m wondering, how do you determine which test kits are defective and which ones can be efficiently used for testing? Do you scrap all these test kits at various sites not knowing which ones are defective or do you continue using them? Or do you ‘double test’ every subject to see if the results match?
I’m not expecting anyone reading this to have answers, but I also suspect that this must be a viable concern in other communities/states as well.
Another question I asked, “What leads to a false positive?” And the answer that was submitted to me, was either these tests A.) Are ‘defective’, B.) Not being properly administered [Which seems unlikely] or C.)Contaminated through improper storage.
So here’s what I’m wondering, how do you determine which test kits are defective and which ones can be efficiently used for testing? Do you scrap all these test kits at various sites not knowing which ones are defective or do you continue using them? Or do you ‘double test’ every subject to see if the results match?
I’m not expecting anyone reading this to have answers, but I also suspect that this must be a viable concern in other communities/states as well.