Re:FDA authorizes rapid, at-home coronavirus test
by ineedasername on Thursday December 17, 2020 @10:53AM
(#25456651)
Sure I'd be worried about false negatives. Identifying the infected to allow them to isolate is the reason for it. I'm not worried about false positives because there is little harm done in having someone isolate uneccessarily. Much more harm is possible by keeping an infected person, who now thinks they're fine, out in public.
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Re:FDA authorizes rapid, at-home coronavirus test
by pas on Friday December 18, 2020 @03:54AM
(#25465170)
These assays are very skewed toward producing false positives.
Exactly for this reason.
It's not perfect. PCR can miss the early stages of the infection too.
These are just signals.
Luckily we know that viral load is the factor for transmission rate (infectiousness). So even if someone is (false) negative, but has symptoms, should self-quarantine.