The headline should include that word "accurately," as it can indeed detect CV, and thus this lack of qualifier allows "fact checkers" to label it as false, just as they did with the statement by Dinesh D’Souza of “these cops using massive amounts of force against unarmed Trump supporters,” since there were armed protesters in the tunnel as well, and thus he should have said "including" unarmed Trump supporters. We are in a culture war.
And the problems with accuracy are not new, for months ago even the NYT printed this opinion piece:
"Your Coronavirus Test Is Positive. Maybe It Shouldn’t Be," by Apoorva Mandavilli, Published Aug. 29, 2020 Updated July 3, 2021The PCR test amplifies genetic matter from the virus in cycles; the fewer cycles required, the greater the amount of virus, or viral load, in the sample. The greater the viral load, the more likely the patient is to be contagious.
In three sets of testing data that include cycle thresholds, compiled by officials in Massachusetts, New York and Nevada, up to 90 percent of people testing positive carried barely any virus, a review by The Times found.Tests with thresholds so high may detect not just live virus but also genetic fragments, leftovers from infection that pose no particular risk — akin to finding a hair in a room long after a person has left, Dr. Mina said.Any test with a cycle threshold above 35 is too sensitive, agreed Juliet Morrison, a virologist at the University of California, Riverside. “I’m shocked that people would think that 40 could represent a positive,” she said.The C.D.C.’s own calculations suggest that it is extremely difficult to detect any live virus in a sample above a threshold of 33 cycles.
The PCR has tested postive on kiwi fruit, Coca Cola, and ‘Spanish Water’ but was inconclusive on motor oil.
The PCR was developed without the use of the actual virus - so it can indiscriminately detect materials, organic or not, and falsely flag them as ‘Covid’.