FWIW, my wife and I are just recovering from COVID. I seemed to get the worst of it and my symptoms started on the 8th. I tested negative the next day. Waited two days, negative again. That weekend, my wife tested positive. So we both went again and tested negative.
At this point, I was pretty damn sure I had it..and I didn’t think it was the test itself, but the tester. It was at a tent site they setup. They were barely putting the swab in my nose. When I first got tested last year, I thought they lobotomized me.
So we went to CVS where you swab yourself. We did it right and both came back positive. So I guess my point is, it might not be a false positive. I had three negatives while I had it and was somewhat symptomatic. My wife tested negative in between positives. Just two people’s experience but if the same person is testing them and doing a half-assed job, definitely possible.
If the PCR test does not come back positive something is up. The false positives on that test are legendary.
The Rapid test is so bad that nurses tell me, “If you don’t like the result, just keep taking it until you get the result you are looking for.”
COVID may be the only disease where symptoms are irrelevant, all we care about are test results.