WingNews logo WingNews
top | item 26738095

(no title)

dfgdghdf | 4 years ago

The mass testing story is not what you think it is. The tests are optional, self administered, self reported, only available to staff (not students) in many cases and have a 50% false negative rate.

discuss

order

Angostura|4 years ago

> The tests are optional, self administered, self reported, only available to staff (not students)

That's rubbish. My kids are stuff swabs up their nose twice a week - and they are lateral flow tests, so we sit there waiting to see whether the double line appears.

dfgdghdf|4 years ago

Different schools are running things differently. I am glad you used the tests, but they were strictly speaking optional. Lateral flow tests have a very high false negative rate, particularly when not administered by a trained professional.

vidarh|4 years ago

My 11yo son was tested in school first couple of weeks after returning, and now have self-testing kits that are meant to be used twice a week.

dfgdghdf|4 years ago

Again, some schools are running this better than others.

martinald|4 years ago

Not true at all. UK was doing >1million rapid tests a day when schools were open. They will do that again when they are back from easter break.

Also, the false negative rate isn't a big problem IMO. The PCR 'false negative' rate is far far higher because we are only doing a few hundred thousand a day, so 90% of people are getting missed entirely. I'd rather a 50% false negative rate than a 89% false negative rate from PCR.

There is also the problem that PCR takes at least a day to turn around as well - which will result in more spread.

I'm not saying we should get rid of PCR testing and just do LFD but doing both is probably the best option.