Other way around isn't it? They are designed to have as low false negative as possible, a false positive means someone quarantines for two weeks without symptoms while a false negative means a covid positive person is acting like they don't have it.
You are correct in this case, it seems like the current antigen tests have a high false negative rate.
"What about accuracy? The reported rate of false negative results is as high as 50%, which is why antigen tests are not favored by the FDA as a single test for active infection. " -Harvard.edu
while a false negative means a covid positive person is acting like they don’t have it.
big difference between literal false negative and practical one
virus count drops quickly. Many people are undetectable by the time they start feeling sick. If the tests repeatedly come up negative, that means YOU ARE NOT SHEDDING VIRUS, even if you have COVID.
It's technically a false negative in that you have COVID and you tested negative. But it is practically, for the purposes of contagion and controlling the epidemic, the same thing as being ACTUALLY negative and COVID-free.
By the time illness actually comes on, roughly 50% of people will already have undetectable levels of virus in their body. I got tested 1 week after I felt sick, 3 times within the month that I got sick, and 13 times in the few months after that. Literally every single one came up negative, and I definitely had COVID.
Other way around isn't it? They are designed to have as low false negative as possible, a false positive means someone quarantines for two weeks without symptoms while a false negative means a covid positive person is acting like they don't have it.
You'd hope so, but that's not how science and stuff works. The test sees covid; it tells you. (As far I know)
You are correct in this case, it seems like the current antigen tests have a high false negative rate.
"What about accuracy? The reported rate of false negative results is as high as 50%, which is why antigen tests are not favored by the FDA as a single test for active infection. " -Harvard.edu
I've read from a few different places over the past few months that the rapid same day tests have a false negative rate of upwards of 50%
Exactly, but if it says you have covid... you have covid. Not saying it can't give false negatives
A false negative means you have it but the test shows that you don't, no?
Edit nevermind I misread
big difference between literal false negative and practical one
virus count drops quickly. Many people are undetectable by the time they start feeling sick. If the tests repeatedly come up negative, that means YOU ARE NOT SHEDDING VIRUS, even if you have COVID.
It's technically a false negative in that you have COVID and you tested negative. But it is practically, for the purposes of contagion and controlling the epidemic, the same thing as being ACTUALLY negative and COVID-free.
By the time illness actually comes on, roughly 50% of people will already have undetectable levels of virus in their body. I got tested 1 week after I felt sick, 3 times within the month that I got sick, and 13 times in the few months after that. Literally every single one came up negative, and I definitely had COVID.