By now, you’ve heard of PCR (or RT-PCR) testing for coronavirus infections. The test can provide accurate results. Unfortunately, it can also produce false positives if used incorrectly.
Anyone who has followed the ins-and-outs of COVID testing knows this. For months, analysts have been noting this problem in the scientific literature. But much of the press, addicted to panic porn, has done a bad job of explaining this to the public. In fact, it’s often spent time debunking conspiracy theories about the test rather than explaining the problems with how it’s often deployed.
This problem got more attention last week after WHO warned the medical community that “careful interpretation of weak positive results is needed.” That’s bureaucratese for “be careful not to misuse these tests.” Since WHO went to the trouble of issuing this warning, we can assume that the agency knows someone is misusing the tests.
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