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KEY FACTS There are two kinds of Covid-19 tests: molecular diagnostic tests, which can identify people with active infections, even when they have no symptoms, and antibody, or serology, tests, which indicate that a person was infected at some point in the past.

According to Christopher Farnsworth, an instructor of pathology and immunology at Washington University School of Medicine, "antibody testing is really helpful in monitoring how widely a virus has spread within a community. Such testing could help determine how many people have recovered from the virus, even if they never had symptoms."

Thus, antibody tests could potentially play a very important role if and when schools should reopen, or when professional sports will return.

However, the CDC has acknowledged that antibody testing can frequently be inaccurate, especially in populations where there is a low prevalence of the coronavirus.

In fact, under certain scenarios, “less than half of those testing positive will truly have antibodies,” the agency says.

This is particularly dangerous because it could lead to individuals believing they have been infected with the coronavirus, and acting as if they have immunity, when that is not the case.

1 posted on 05/28/2020 4:19:54 AM PDT by RaceBannon
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To: RaceBannon

there is something else, if you DO have antibodies, and test NEGative because it was wrong, yet you DO have antibodies, you will be singled out for mandatory isolation or ppe that you dont need!


2 posted on 05/28/2020 4:21:59 AM PDT by RaceBannon (Rom 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for)
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To: RaceBannon

They’re talking about false positives.

If a test had a 50% false positive rate, I’d consider it worthless, and I think most others would to. For example, you could then test a population where absolutely no one had, or ever had, the virus and conclude that 50% had been infected and you were close to herd immunity.

How can the CDC say this?

Manufacturers have been claiming 95 to 99% accuracy. I’d say its extremely important to have some accuracy here.


3 posted on 05/28/2020 4:24:11 AM PDT by Pearls Before Swine
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To: RaceBannon
CDC Says Possibly 'Less Than Half' Of Positive Antibody Tests Are Correct

I can provide all the tests needed for 25 cents each and these test will be just as accurate.


5 posted on 05/28/2020 4:26:14 AM PDT by Flick Lives (My work's illegal, but at least it's honest. - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds)
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To: RaceBannon

We don’t know nothing ‘bout nothing, but we’d like to shut down a booming economy and disrupt millions of lives. We’re from the government, and we’re here to help you.


6 posted on 05/28/2020 4:28:32 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (If White Privilege is real, why did Elizabeth Warren lie about being an Indian?)
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To: RaceBannon

Wait, so it would be more accurate if the results were flipped? I FU-—NG LOVE SCIENCE!!!


7 posted on 05/28/2020 4:29:57 AM PDT by cdcdawg ("Americanism, not Globalism, will be our credo." DJT 2016)
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To: RaceBannon; DoughtyOne; Vermont Lt; gas_dr
If prior CoV infections produce cross-reacting antibodies with SARS CoV 2, then how do we know those "false" antibodies are not to some degree protective?

WE DON'T.

A paper is being published in Cell that claims that 34% of healthy non-COVID people carry memory T-cells that transform in the presence of SARS Co V 2 antigens.

Now, this is not a clinical paper. It's published by in vitro cell nerds in a pure science journal.

But if it's right, it's great news because it may explain some of the observed facts, like low risk of household transmission with wide confidence intervals (for example).

Lots of hot stuff beginning to appear, as the virus and the disease it causes come into sharper focus.

9 posted on 05/28/2020 4:34:41 AM PDT by Jim Noble (Think like youÂ’re right, listen like youÂ’re wrong)
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To: RaceBannon

The CDC is in the testing biz, too...

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/lab/serology-testing.html


11 posted on 05/28/2020 4:37:00 AM PDT by mewzilla (Break out the mustard seeds.)
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To: RaceBannon

Any links to where it says this on the actual CDC.gov website? Thanks.. d:^)


13 posted on 05/28/2020 4:40:28 AM PDT by CopperTop (Outside the wire it's just us chickens. Dig?)
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To: RaceBannon

Close enough for government work.


14 posted on 05/28/2020 4:41:03 AM PDT by Flag_This (China delenda est.)
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To: RaceBannon

CDC-FauXi-SOROS-Xi-Gates make virus to murder humans
by the millions using HIV-covering the ACE-2
receptor taken from Pangolins into bat coronovirus.

They patent the whole thing including vaccines,
and the power to infect humans with HIV using the virus.
(and of course the USPTO sees UTILITY there).

Jan. 2020 - Pelosi and China release the virus
and the fake impeachment.

MSM complicit in TERROR 24/7

FauXi deems disease is diagnoses by .... symptoms.

Cases soar, and to really really stoke the fire
DNC governors SEED nursing homes with desease.

Today, riots in the streets orchestrated by
Soros, death vaccines prepared by CDC-WHO-Gates,
and the US Congress hides like the rats they are.


15 posted on 05/28/2020 4:41:16 AM PDT by Diogenesis ( WWG1WGA)
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To: RaceBannon

Given that it appears that less than half of what the CDC says is also incorrect, what’s the news here?


18 posted on 05/28/2020 5:03:17 AM PDT by Da Coyote
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To: RaceBannon

The CDC has become an agent of chaos. They keep “leaarning” something new, and then they change it. First, for instance, they had us all paranoid about getting the virus from touching surfaces, then they said such transmission was extremely unlikely, now they are back to catching the virus from hard surfaces is quite probable. And, after most of the states and businesses have setled on 6 feet separation, they say that six feet might not be enough and on the issue of ace masks, the virus droplets might hang in the air for hours so the masks will be ineffective if you walk through such a cloud. This all makes no sense unless they are just trying to destroy any confidence in the government, the economy, and the ability to go out at all.


19 posted on 05/28/2020 5:04:35 AM PDT by Truth29
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To: RaceBannon

A list of the good and bad tests:

https://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3849209/posts


21 posted on 05/28/2020 5:18:48 AM PDT by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
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To: RaceBannon

Sounds like a convenient way to move the goalposts yet again


22 posted on 05/28/2020 5:21:10 AM PDT by cyclotic (The most dangerous people are the ones that feel the most helpless)
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To: RaceBannon

Since the population has been deliberately isolated I would expect the antibodies present to be on the low side. The idea is for low risk persons to be exposed, go through a less severe case, and recover. That is how antibodies spread in a population. Not by isolation.


26 posted on 05/28/2020 5:45:56 AM PDT by lastchance (Credo.)
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To: RaceBannon

If all these tests have the same success rate that the seasonal flu vaccines have, we’re in a heap of trouble.


29 posted on 05/28/2020 6:04:25 AM PDT by windowdude
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To: RaceBannon

Internet Says Possibly ‘Less Than Half’ Of CDC Announcements Are Correct


31 posted on 05/28/2020 6:59:56 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (Joe Biden- "First thing I'd do is repeal those Trump tax cuts." (May 4th, 2019))
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To: RaceBannon

Riiiiight! Coming from the CDC, you can take it to the... dumpster!


32 posted on 05/28/2020 7:07:57 AM PDT by ManHunter (You can run, but you'll only die tired... Army snipers: Reach out and touch someone)
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To: RaceBannon
I don't understand this obsession with trying to determine if a person has or hasn't contracted the corona virus.

The politicians, medical "experts" and the media have created such a mass hysteria over this corona virus that everyone is focused on it 100% of the time instead on other things that make up our lives.

If you're not sick, then why worry about it? And if you are sick, take care of yourself and recover. For those that can't do these things, apparently their time on this earth is up.

These viruses come and go every few years and life moves on. Or at least it used to. Now people want the government to take care of it. I'm sorry to tell them this but the government has trouble doing even the most basic things well, so don't hold your breath that they'll get this one right.

Life is a risky venture but everybody nowadays wants the government to make it risk-free. Ain't going to happen.

35 posted on 05/28/2020 7:46:09 AM PDT by HotHunt (Been there. Done that.)
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To: RaceBannon

There is no big mystery to this — it is a consequence of Bayes rule — high school probabilty, that many of us have forgotten. In simple terms, even if the test has high precision and recall (a very good test from an individual perspective), we may still end up with a situation where a lot of people falsely believe they have immunity (aka antibodies). To see why this is true, it is useful to understand the effect of prevalence. If the prevalence i.e., percentage of infected people is low, then the vast majority of those tested will not have the antibodies to begin with. Even with a test that has high precision (say 98%) you will still identify 2% of those who don’t have the antibodies as having anti-bodies (false positive). If the prevalence is small to begin with the number of false positives can be on par or higher than the actual number of infected even with a very good test. So, the test can give a false sense of security.


36 posted on 05/28/2020 7:49:10 AM PDT by krny9
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