That said, if the false positive rate were that high, the specificity of the test would be low.
"rigor"
Also, the error bars on these may be wider than is usual for an approved test, but they are just as likely to be understated as overstated.
Up to 20%, and I've seen numbers as low as 15% [1].
[1] https://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/cold-guide/common_cold_ca...
It might be that 80% of people get antibodies and immunity, but 20% don't. Or some people get antibodies but it doesn't prevent them from being a carrier. Or the immunity is only partial, etc. And then there's the ADE stuff which is theoretical but scary.
FTR, this assertion has been proven to be false (the other needs further investigation)[1]. Antibodies (IgM and IgG) are produced during the infection and peak afterwards.
I feel like the WHO (body may not produce antibodies as part of beating covid, antibodies have not been shown to confer any immunity) and now the FDA may be talking about true but theoretical issues.
What is the REAL rate, in the USA, of folks who have for example MERS antibodies that will trigger a false positive in this type of test. Ie, do these tests really come back positive for MERS antibodies and how likely am I to have had MERS but not covid so that I get that false positive?
Given the FDA warning (which was the biggest thing on my results) I'm guessing 30%+ of positives are a result of these situations? But interested in actual data