Select Page

Your Coronavirus Test Is Positive. Maybe It Shouldn’t Be. – The New York Times

Your Coronavirus Test Is Positive. Maybe It Shouldn’t Be. – The New York Times

The 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.

This number of amplification cycles needed to find the virus, called the cycle threshold, is never included in the results sent to doctors and coronavirus patients, although it could tell them how infectious the patients are.

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.

In Massachusetts, from 85 to 90 percent of people who tested positive in July with a cycle threshold of 40 would have been deemed negative if the threshold were 30 cycles, Dr. Mina said. “I would say that none of those people should be contact-traced, not one,” he said.

READ THE FULL STORY: Your Coronavirus Test Is Positive. Maybe It Shouldn’t Be. – The New York Times

About The Author

CT Liberty: About Us

CT Liberty Rally is an active, grassroots organization in Connecticut, promoting the American ideals of Liberty, Freedom & Individual Rights, and addressing liberty issues affecting citizens of our state.

 

Newsletter Sign-Up


Click below to sign the petition: Restore Vaccination Religious Exemption

Events

December 2023

SU
MO
TU
WE
TH
FR
SA
26
27
28
29
30
1
2
Events for December

1st

No Events
Events for December

2nd

No Events
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Events for December

3rd

No Events
Events for December

4th

No Events
Events for December

5th

No Events
Events for December

6th

No Events
Events for December

7th

No Events
Events for December

8th

No Events
Events for December

9th

No Events
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Events for December

10th

No Events
Events for December

11th

No Events
Events for December

12th

No Events
Events for December

13th

No Events
Events for December

14th

No Events
Events for December

15th

No Events
Events for December

16th

No Events
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
Events for December

17th

No Events
Events for December

18th

No Events
Events for December

19th

No Events
Events for December

20th

No Events
Events for December

21st

No Events
Events for December

22nd

No Events
Events for December

23rd

No Events
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
Events for December

24th

No Events
Events for December

25th

No Events
Events for December

26th

No Events
Events for December

27th

No Events
Events for December

28th

No Events
Events for December

29th

No Events
Events for December

30th

No Events
31
1
2
3
4
5
6
Events for December

31st

No Events
Instagram Feed
Something is wrong.
Instagram token error.
Follow
1