– We’d encourage quick tests, but based on our experience, I feel I should go out and send a warning that you can’t necessarily trust them, and that they can provide a false sense of security, says Trond Arild Johansen, 65, of Råholt in Eidsvoll, to Dagbladet.
On November 11, he and his wife Sonya, 66, who were fully vaccinated, were informed that one of them had been diagnosed with the coronavirus. Then they went to two different pharmacies and bought two different types of rapid tests from different suppliers. Then the couple and Sonia’s assistant tested themselves every other day for six days (9 tests total).
– All the tests were negative, Trond-Areld tells Dagbladet.
He was Eidsvoll Ullensaker Blad Who mentioned the case for the first time.
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2 packs
“We ran a lot of tests because we wanted to make sure we could be in the crowd without being a carrier,” the 65-year-old continues.
After taking three tests each, Sonya’s assistant ran a PCR test, which to everyone’s surprise turned out to be positive.
Then the couple booked every hour for a PCR test, too. Trond-Areld spent an hour in the center of Edsvall, while the home care service came to Sonya’s house and did her test there.
The Home Care Service also ran another rapid test (No. 10) on Sonja during the visit, and it was also negative, the husband says.
positive PCR
The next day, they both received an answer for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests.
– At seven in the morning I got an answer to my test and it was positive. Sonia got an answer a little later that day, and the PCR test was positive, too.
Then they both went into complete seclusion.
– I thought it was very strange that all the rapid tests showed the opposite of the PCR tests, so after the PCR answer I did the last quick test left (#11) – and got a negative result on it too, says Trond Areld.
– be cerfull
The couple told Dagbladet that they and the assistant had correctly performed a total of eleven rapid tests.
– We used the directions for use, and followed them exactly as we described them, says Trond Aryld.
– We are not doing this to scare people, but we want people to realize that rapid tests can give a wrong result, and to think that those who suspect they have corona prefer to get a PCR test right away, he adds.
We did at least eleven tests, and they all showed false results, he says.
– Ability to appeal
Possible reasons
Edsvall’s chief municipal doctor, Karl Magnus Jensen, is confident that the couple followed the directions for use.
Without being aware of this specific case, I think when they say they have it, there are some explanatory models for why they still get negative answers to the rapid tests, he says, but asserts that these are just assumptions.
I appreciate that rapid tests and their usefulness is a very important tool for getting an overview of the infection status. The sensitivity of the rapid tests is somewhat lower than the PCR tests, but it still makes up for the fact that it is easier to administer many groups via the rapid tests – and the fact that people can do the task themselves, continues the municipal supervisor.
According to Jensen, one explanation for the couple’s negative test results may be that they tested themselves early in the course of the disease.
The PCR test is more sensitive, needs much less virus on the test stick, and the earlier you are ill – the less virus you have. If all of the rapid tests were done before the PCR test, then the new rapid test after that may not work again, because you still have an amount of virus to detect, he says.
The mayor thinks the fact that the couple have been fully vaccinated may also have something to say.
– As I understand it, vaccinated people have a shorter phase in which they have a high secretion of the virus. You can be as infectious as someone who is not immune, but at a shorter stage – which can also give a narrower window for detecting the virus with a quick test.
Was there something wrong with the tests?
– It cannot be ruled out, but what I can say is that we are experiencing a very good correlation between negative tests and no infection in the approximately 10,000 tests that we have sent to schools and kindergartens in the municipality – and therefore there is a very good connection between positive rapid tests that are exclusively confirmed roughly by polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
Criticizes Oslo for conducting mass experiments: – Anxiety
– Never heard of it
Justin Soldal, head of communications for the Pharmacy Association, told Dagbladet that they have not received any feedback that rapid tests that can be bought at pharmacies are showing a false result.
“I’ve never heard of it, and as a pharmacy association, it’s not something we have a lot of insight into,” says Soldal.
– He adds that the tests that you can buy at pharmacies are the same as those used by the municipal health department.
Not accurate
Rapid tests are not as accurate as PCR tests, which are used in comparative studies as the gold standard, he writes NHI.no.
“The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test can detect very small amounts of viruses in contrast to rapid tests that require larger amounts of viruses to be able to detect the virus. A PCR test can detect only a small number of RNA particles from the virus, while requiring Rapid testing of thousands of virus particles to give a positive answer,” writes NHI.no.
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