How do you think the world would know how many are breaking the chains of transmissions each day? It wouldn’t have been possible to save lives if there wasn’t rapid PCR testing!
It is rapid testing that can find out the active cases who are infectious and posing dangers to others with symptoms or maybe without. It is the only way to detect; it is wrong to claim that it lessens the infection but indirectly helps curb the spread to others.
The test in use is called the Lateral Flow device, making it easy to test at home, in the community, and the workplace, giving the result within 30 minutes.
The accuracy of the test depends on how the sample test is taken and how precisely the test is conducted by it any testing equipment. The device in use has high specificity, which means that the plausibility of the case being falsely positive is extremely low. To illustrate, it might be less than 1 in 1000 tests carried out.
At times the chances of false-positive outcomes to exhibit is unlikely possible in the cases in the population reduces to low levels. And in such a condition to recheck its trueness, a PCR test is carried out in the laboratory.
It affirms people that the true positive rates can be determined with these tests in any case of the falseness of the LFD device. Thus, ensuring nobody needs to be isolated without any reason.
At the very launch of the rapid testing in the previous year, the confirmatory test of PCR was introduced too. The use of PCR in the meantime was not much as the spike in the cases was high in number; it was unlikely that LFD could show false-positive results.
That way, PCR testing was allowed only in the circumstances where clinical symptoms were observed.
Now in the future, there is a low prevalence of the virus globally, and again there is a reintroduction of the PCR testing to confirm the positive test cases. The advantage of the PCR test being more in the coming months as new technology is developed to detect the covariant of the virus and track them and their spread at the same time has now become easy. And for the same tests conducted by PCR for the samples are considered.
In the process, LFD is first carried out, and if that shows a positive result, for the reconfirmation, PCR is carried out to check for negative result within two days of the positive outcome from the LFD,
Once the LFD results show positive results, it is necessary to isolate themselves from the family members until they get the confirmatory test done from the PCR.
Final thoughts
If anybody suggests you take the test, do take it as it would be easier to track the spread if it is positive to curb the transmission. We never know about the surge, but these technological developments make it easier to detect and lessen the spread for our well-being. So, do ensure to reassure yourself with a PCR test at this timing if LFD shows positive results.