A lot of people are tested for the deadly SARS-CoV-2 virus these days, and there’s no wonder why there are around 600,000 infections throughout the world every day lately. The United States is continuing to have the lead, and the country even reached a record number of over 180,000 infections in a single day on Friday, November 13.
Testing for COVID-19 is practically mandatory, and there seems to be a better and even faster alternative for the classical PCR tests. However, not everyone agrees with this claim. We’re talking about the rapid antigen tests that are capable of detecting specific proteins from the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Accuracy rates over 90% for both the antigen and PCR tests
Dr. Ngozi Ezike, who is the director of the public health department from Illinois, comes to shatter the hysteria of some conspiracy theorists claiming that the antigen tests for COVID-19 are not accurate enough. The doctor claims that both the antigen and PCR tests have accuracy rates above 90%.
“Take a pregnancy test. You can have a blood test. You can have the one you can get from the drug store…the dollar store,” Ezike said.
“You will still use that and know it’s going to give you a reliable result. Are there a few cases in which it won’t be perfect? Yes, that’s true, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to throw away a positive pregnancy test, and say there’s no way you can be pregnant.”
A lot of people were skeptical about the reliability of the rapid tests for COVID-19, and one of the reasons is represented by a recent post made by Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX. He said that after being tested four times in a day for the coronavirus with the rapid antigen tests, two of the tests came back positive and two negative. This is even weirder considering that the billionaire has been dealing with the same test, the same nurse, and the same machine.
Therefore, all of those conspiracy theorists out there should think twice before coming with exaggerated claims.
Source: nbcchicago.com
