rt-PCR test cannot distinguish between live, replication-capable SARS-CoV-2 and its remains, or inactivated copies. It detects short snippets of genetic material, not the entire virus.

You can read much more in depth about why there was a bad cycle #. At the time of creating the rules they didn't have a real copy of the infected person. They simulated it. https://www.fda.gov/media/134922/download

It was a mistake on their part, but the reasoning is irrelevant here. Mistakes are going to happen during a crisis.

The problem is the ongoing pattern of lying.

I genuinely people like Tam and Fauci are trying to the do the right thing but it sets for extreme levels of distrust by lying. The next pandemic may be much worse because we simply lost trust in experts because they lied.

I'm just saying that this particular argument, about cycle count and false positives, is not one of those cases.