At-home COVID-19 test indicates a person is negative for the virus, but his body feels positive because of the symptoms he's going through. What or who does he believe?
If you're among the many who ask the same question, a Fortune report said, No, your body is "not gaslighting you."
According to Vice Chair of Medicine for Data Integrity and Analytics Dr. Stuart Ray from Johns Hopkins' Department of Medicine, if an individual is sure he is positive for the virus, he possibly is, regardless of what the at-home test kit says.
The medical expert also said it is funny when one is "confronted with a big surge of infections." He said this is refers to the fact that in several areas of the United States, COVID-19 levels are at, or close to, record highs, as evidenced by virus levels in wastewater, opposite the formal testing.
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A doctor showed a negative rapid antigen test at the Corona test center in a specially created room next to the 'Loewen' pharmacy in Hagen, western Germany, on March 10, 2021, during the ongoing coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
False Negatives
Any time a big surge occurs, more false negatives will be seen simply because more infections are seen.
Fairly new Omicron subvariant BA.5, the most infectious and immune-invasive yet, has more than 80 percent of US cases a week ago, recent data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention specified.
While the BA.5, described in a SILive.com report, is a spinoff of "stealth Omicron" BA 2, named for its inclination to present false negatives in lab-based PCR tests, there is no evidence that testing works less well for BA 5 compared to other variants.
Ray explained why a COVID-positive individual might get a negative result outside a faulty rest.
Vaccine Helps
When a person performed his nasal swab, he might have sampled a nose patch that did not contain the virus. Or probably, the patch comprised virus, although not enough.
When the nose is sampled, the expert explained, "We're grabbing one little patch," a tiny surface area, when the virus could be duplicating elsewhere in the body.
The expert explained that the nose is one of the portals by which the virus enters and lives, although it is in the mouth and could be held deep in the lungs.
Furthermore, a negative test, while positive, may be proved as well that the vaccine or prior infection helps. The essentiality of getting vaccinated against Omicron is explained in a Healthline report.
There is also evidence that immunity decreases the virus level people produce, not to mention the duration of positivity.
Nonetheless, the key point is this; the doctor continued explaining that if one feels confident he has COVID-19, or if their spouse just tested positive and is sick, there is a great chance he indeed has the virus.
Related information about COVID-19 test results is shown on WFAA's YouTube video below:
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