I’ve been wearing a mask at crowded spaces but a couple of days ago the supermarket was very very busy and someone let their child run up behind me and open mouth cough right next to me.
Masks work and it took 4 years for me to catch it the first time, but they aren’t miracle workers if the general public are allowed to basically come up and assault you.
I hope it’s just the flu but I recognise these emerging symptoms as the same as when I first got it last April.
You might think I’m overreacting but the last time I got COVID it hit me hard. I have no memory of the week and a half it was at its worst, as It was just a haze of pain, fever dreams and confusion. It scares me to think how it might have damaged my brain (insert obvious jokes here) and I’m terrified of having it again. Especially if it does worse damage each time you get it.
RATs (rapid antigen tests) have a 40% false negative. So you may need to run several of them to get an accurate positive result. Nucleic Acid tests like PlusLife are far more sensitive, and so more suited to early detection, tho’ less available in the US. PCR is, of course the ‘gold standard’, but results are dependent on CT (cycle threshold numbers). A PCR that is (+) with a low CT is pretty definitive. A proper lab or doctors office with the right equipment is your best test approach.
Dirt_Owl is Australian, if I’m not mistaken. So maybe they have a better infrastructure but they probably still have to pay it themself and PCR test are pretty expensive.
That’s very good to know. But the false positive rate is very low. So when you have a positive result, you most likely have it, which is valuable information.
Yes, one can rely on the (+), but not so much with a single (-), especially with symptoms. However the asymptomatic rate is also not insignificant. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8672238/