morgandawn<p>&quot;<a href="https://sfba.social/tags/COVID" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>COVID</span></a> Testing.</p><p>If you get a negative…</p><p>False negatives at the beginning of infection are very common, thanks to the virus mutating. In a recent study, <a href="https://sfba.social/tags/antigen" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>antigen</span></a> &amp; <a href="https://sfba.social/tags/PCR" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>PCR</span></a> tests only agreed 47-58% of the time. If they did agree, there was a 1-8 day delay between a PCR turning positive &amp; an antigen test turning positive.</p><p>The higher we are in a wave, the more skeptical you should be of a negative result. There are 2 things you can do to help reduce false negatives</p><p>Swab throat &amp; salvia. These are positive days before the nose.</p><p>Repeat testing. 2 tests within 48 hours catch 92% of <a href="https://sfba.social/tags/symptomatic" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>symptomatic</span></a> cases &amp; 39% of <a href="https://sfba.social/tags/asymptomatic" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>asymptomatic</span></a> cases. 3 tests 48 hours apart detected 94% of symptomatic &amp; 57% of asymptomatic patients.</p><p>If you get a positive…<br />Positives are positives. You’re infectious.</p><p>The faintness of a line provides clues, though:</p><p>Very bold line= you’re very contagious.</p><p>Barely see the line= you’re at the beginning or the end of your infection window.&quot;</p><p><a href="https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/riding-the-covid-19-waves-2023-style" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">yourlocalepidemiologist.substa</span><span class="invisible">ck.com/p/riding-the-covid-19-waves-2023-style</span></a> </p><p>1/n</p>