What is the truth behind all the COVID test results?  What if I told you the error rate was 85-90%?

Never have I ever been asked to test for a disease I have no symptoms for.  Yet, all we hear on the news, social media and on PSAs, is go, get tested.

Watching the local newscasts, we have seen long lines of vehicles waiting for their turn at the testing sites.   Several experts assert that the way we are testing for this virus is giving us false positives—even up to 85-90%.   Who benefits if the tests for Covid-19 yield so many false positives?  See the full story here, with references:    https://thevaccinereaction.org/2020/09/coronavirus-cases-plummet-when-pcr-tests-are-adjusted/

Just in case you did not read the article, the gist of it is that the PCR test samples are amplified at 40 or more cycles.   The experts say that this procedure makes the test too sensitive.  They recommend that the cycle threshold be reduced to below 35, or even less.  What is happening with the current way we measure the samples is that any leftover fragment of a cold or an old infection will cause a sample to test positive.

What has been the result of such errors in testing?  For one thing, the whole world has gone through an economic crisis.  Globally, people have been told to stay home, work safe.   In our community, small businesses are struggling to stay solvent.  Even if you happen to own an ‘essential’ business, your customers are too frightened to go out and patronize your business.

Restaurants are open 50-75%,, and bars are still closed.  What is happening to those owners?  How are they surviving, and why should their businesses be closed when 85-90% of the positive  Covid-19 rates are false?

Retail is suffering as well.  The malls are closed.  Everyone is using ‘contact-less’ measures in the hopes of staying ‘safe.’  Now, I am not someone who regularly engages in retail therapy.  However, I have been known to go with friends for a day out from time to time.  The thought of going into a crowded mall and seeing nothing but shoppers masked and shielded does not impress me.   When I go, I enjoy the banter and smiling faces of the assistants.  This enjoyment is lost due to the current mandate.

We know that our local municipal government relies on sales tax revenue to provide services to the community.  With the travel restrictions, hotel taxes are down.  With the retail restrictions, the sales tax revenue is down.  There are no conventions or sporting events, so those tax revenues are missing as well.

It is time to use our critical thinking skills.  What is the rationale for urging healthy people to go for a test?  Who is benefiting from these false positives?

Until next time….

 

Dr. Polly