Does anyone test negative for this virus?

[Smurof]

I've yet to hear of anyone, not one, who went to get tested where the result came out anything other than positive.

 

It's enough to keep me at home like I've been instructed to do. Test kits, or virus-inducing kits? For now, I'm not interested in taking a test.

[Muscle Lover 2]

Supposedly Trump and Ivanka

[Guest]

Spoke with a nurse recently who told me he’s seen lots of suspected cases that were ruled out and only one true positive at his hospital.

[+ sniper]

Didn't Kris Jenner jump the queue and get a negative test. I've heard of a few. But we have so few tests here they still aren't giving you a test until they think you have it. i.e. you have flu-like symptoms but tested negative for flu.

[spider]

Not really. They only test folk who they’re pretty sure have the virus.

[mike carey]

I've yet to hear of anyone, not one, who went to get tested where the result came out anything other than positive.

Australia has done over 100K tests and there are less fewer than 1,000 cases. Each negative test is not news in the way that each positive test is (although in some countries positive tests have moved from the 'news' column to the 'statistics' column). The exception is when the person who is tested is famous and the fact that they are being tested becomes public knowledge. Bear with me while I contradict what I just said, and note that there was a news item here this afternoon about an overseas tour group that was tested, with 10 positive tests, four negative and four still awaiting results.

 

As others have noted, the criteria for who will be tested are quite strict so you won't be tested unless you have specific risk factors, and even with those limitations on who is tested, the negative rate is over 99%.

[+ pdxleo]

The 3PM Seattle Times update- Washington state has tested 27,121, with 1,793 positives, 25,328 negatives. 94 deaths unfortunately

[+ EVdude]

Friend of mine here in NYC went to urgent care yesterday after a week of body aches and severe headache. They determined it was likely a reaction to a shingles vaccine but tested him for corona virus. He was told they had plenty of test kits however it would take 7 days to get the results because the labs are so backed up and they will only call if it’s positive.

[nycbystander]

I've yet to hear of anyone, not one, who went to get tested where the result came out anything other than positive.

 

It's enough to keep me at home like I've been instructed to do. Test kits, or virus-inducing kits? For now, I'm not interested in taking a test.

 

Yes. Cuomo's press conference yesterday over 45,000 tests performed in New York State 10,300 confirmed cases so about 35,000 negative results.

[wishbone2000]

Friend was tested and results were “inconclusive”. ?

[+ nycman]

...in New York State 10,300 confirmed cases

Which for a test with only about 70% sensitivity means...there are about 4,414 New Yorkers

with a “false negative” test who are infected with COVID, but think they aren’t.

 

The test is great if positive, you have it. Quarantine!

If it’s negative, it sucks. You may still have it. Quarantine!

 

It’s pretty useless despite all the hype.

 

@Kevin Slater you nerd....feel free to correct my math....or better yet....graphs!

Edited March 23, 2020 by nycman

[+ purplekow]

Which for a test with only about 70% sensitivity means...there are about 4,414 New Yorkers

with a “false negative” test who are infected with COVID, but think they aren’t.

 

The test is great if positive, you have it. Quarantine!

If it’s negative, it sucks. You may still have it. Quarantine!

 

It’s pretty useless despite all the hype.

 

@Kevin Slater you nerd....feel free to correct my math....or better yet....graphs!

I do not know right off hand what the specificity of the test to which you are referring is, but it is not 100% so there are some who test positive but are negative.

This is from the package insert of a new test.

Accuracy, sensitivity and specificity?

SureScreen’s new coronavirus lateral flow test uses antibodies that are specific for immune glycoproteins that are produced by infected individuals in response to the new coronavirus. These glycoproteins are called Immunoglobulin M and G (IgM and IgG). Immunoglobulins are normally produced by the immune system in response to bacterial or viral infections and act to 'flag' the pathogen, so that other immune cells can detect and kill it. The IgG/IgM that the test detects are specific to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, so a positive result would indicate the patient has contracted COVID-19. Since there are two analytes of interest (IgM and IgG), there are two test lines on the strip. Only one test line needs to be seen for a positive diagnosis (as well as the control line). Two test lines would also indicate a positive result. The new test has the following specifications: IgG - sensitivity = 100%, specificity = 99.5%, accuracy = 99.6%, IgM - sensitivity = 91.8%, specificity = 99.2%, accuracy = 97.8%.

 

This is the data they are sending out for a new rapid test. Test to be done with 3 to 7 days of symptoms but can be used for screening. This is not an endorsement of the product just information in regards to the 70& value given elsewhere which may have been true for early prototypes of the tests. This figures do look too good to be true so take then with that caveat.

Edited March 23, 2020 by purplekow

[+ E.T.Bass]

Yes, negative results happen.

[Guy Fawkes]

In Nevada quite a few: COVID-19 dashboard but not enough

[+ stevenkesslar]

In Nevada quite a few: COVID-19 dashboard but not enough

 

That's a cool dashboard.

 

https://covidtracking.com/data/

 

https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/96dd742462124fa0b38ddedb9b25e429/

 

That's a link to every state's public health department data. And the one that I think is best of the ones I browsed: Florida. Props to Guv DeSantis. It tells you results in each county - total tests, total positives and negatives, hospitalizations, deaths. (Click on the "Florida Testing" tab at bootom.)

 

If suppression works, it will be because we're all essentially all well trained soldiers in the anti-viral army. Websites like this will help build public awareness.

 

Speaking of which, I wonder whether there is an antibody test, or will be? In other words, a test that indicates you had COVID-19, and now have an antibody for it, or immunity to it.

 

I get that right now the focus is on trying to get people to stop throwing fuel on the fire. But at some point, if we don't want a Great Depression, we'll have to figure out how young people can interact with old ones - especially in work environments. The most vulnerable situation would be a nursing home with lots of entry-level college student employees. But if we are operating in an environment where being 80 and going to McDonalds and getting a cup of coffee handed to you by a 20 year old can get you infected, that's not a good thing. It doesn't restore confidence.

 

My assumption based on the South Korea data is that maybe 20 % or even one third of infected people are under 30, and often asymptomatic. It's n not completely understood yet, but that seems to be one reason this is spreading so quickly. And it's not realistic to test young people who work in nursing homes every week.

 

Arguably, for some interim period, there would would be an advantage in being someone who was infected, and now has immunity. In my mind, the real point of this exercise is making live less hellish for anyone over 65 or so, anyone under 65 that is really sick, anyone who works in the medical profession, or anyone who needs a hospital for any reason for maybe the next year or so.

 

It would border on job discrimination. But as part of a suppression strategy, it would actually make medical sense to test people to find out they have immunity. Those would be the safest people to have working in nursing homes, where this virus is definitely a kiss of death.

Edited March 23, 2020 by stevenkesslar

[+ tassojunior]

In Nevada quite a few: COVID-19 dashboard but not enough

 

That's very encouraging that only 10% tested are positive in Nevada. It provides hope that percentage may hold or start to go down with mass testing, at least in Nevada, until we get like Wuhan where no new cases are happening.

[+ sniper]

I wouldn't trust any numbers coming out of China. South Korea and Japan, sure.

[+ purplekow]

By the way, an interesting bit of information which may help. There seems to have been an increase of anosmia related to CoVid. Anosmia is the loss of smell. It seems that many people are losing a sense of smell and taste during the infection AND while still otherwise asymptoimatic. Now this may just be apocryphal, urban legend, but I know of one person who complained to me about the food at his favorite restaurant was bland and his wine was off. Four days later he became more traditionally ill. He has subsequently tested positive and has stayed relatively healthy though miserable with the body aches, headache and low grade fever.

So, if you find the food doesn't taste right or your sense of smell is not right, it may be time to be tested, if you can find the test.

I must admit to going out of my way to check my sense of smell against some usually harsh smells like bleach and cologne.

My friend told me he could not smell bleach and he drank his coffee with soured milk until he noticed the curds floating on top. When he took a sniff of the container, it did not stimulate the usual grimace.

[MrMattBig]

By the way, an interesting bit of information which may help. There seems to have been an increase of anosmia related to CoVid. Anosmia is the loss of smell. It seems that many people are losing a sense of smell and taste during the infection AND while still otherwise asymptoimatic. Now this may just be apocryphal, urban legend, but I know of one person who complained to me about the food at his favorite restaurant was bland and his wine was off. Four days later he became more traditionally ill. He has subsequently tested positive and has stayed relatively healthy though miserable with the body aches, headache and low grade fever.

So, if you find the food doesn't taste right or your sense of smell is not right, it may be time to be tested, if you can find the test.

I must admit to going out of my way to check my sense of smell against some usually harsh smells like bleach and cologne.

My friend told me he could not smell bleach and he drank his coffee with soured milk until he noticed the curds floating on top. When he took a sniff of the container, it did not stimulate the usual grimace.

I wonder if there is a correlation between asymptomatic with anosmia getting infected by contact surfaces then touching face, and symptomatic to severe cases getting infected from a respiratory airborne way.

[+ stevenkesslar]

I wonder if there is a correlation between asymptomatic with anosmia getting infected by contact surfaces then touching face, and symptomatic to severe cases getting infected from a respiratory airborne way.

 

I've read things that you want this to be an upper respiratory infection. When it gets into your lungs, that is when it puts you at greater danger.

 

This is the best article I've read about when people with COVID-19 should worry that they are about to fall over a cliff:

 

How a mild case of the novel coronavirus can quickly turn deadly

 

The serious problems begin when the infection spreads to the lungs. When that happens, the disease can snowball from moderate to severe "very, very quickly," said Bruce Aylward, an assistant director-general with the World Health Organization.

 

Most of the time, COVID-19 starts in the nose before attacking the epithelial cells that line and protect the respiratory tract. If it hangs out there in the upper airway, patients will experience symptoms similar to the common cold. They'll be contagious but still mobile, still likely to go out in public.

 

In 10-15 percent of the moderate cases, the infection slides down the trachea and into the peripheral branches of the lungs, where it attacks two kinds of lung cells — the ones that make mucus, which protects against pathogens and lubricates the airway, and those with hair-like cilia.

 

In another thread I posted about the two US Reps who have COVID-19, they describe their symptoms. Believe it or not, I actually do try to edit what I write. So one thing I left out is that they sound like poster children for two aspects of this virus. I'm not a doctor, but Diaz-Balart is describing upper respiratory issues that are the most common: fever, coughing, headache. McAdams is describing something going on in his lungs that hurts like hell. That may be one of the factors in why different people experience this differently.

 

Whether that has to do with how the virus enters your body - by touching your nose, or breathing it in through your mouth - who knows?

 

I'm becoming more and more suspicious of the idea that there are a whole bunch of "walking well" who just work through this without knowing they have COVID-19. More likely, people are just not symptomatic yet. Even in South Korea, which I think is the data source for the theory that there are a whole bunch of young "walking well". I think most of the young (20ish) people tested were either symptomatic and referred by a doctor, or asymptomatic and referred by one of the tracing "detectives" based on very recent contact with someone infected. Unless I'm missing something, South Korea's testing does not suggest to me that all these young people with no symptoms at any point got tested and were found to be positive.

 

It also doesn't square with the CDC that report that 15 % or so of young adults who get this require hospitalization, even though all but one recovered. The CDC data from the 2018-2019 flu season show that less than 1 % of young adults with flu typically end up in a hospital. When it's all over and sorted out, my guess is that the scientists are right, and this is worse than the "normal" flu for most people.

Edited March 24, 2020 by stevenkesslar

[+ Charlie]

My spouse lost his sense of smell a few years ago, but his neurologist said that is not uncommon when someone develops Alzheimer's.

[+ Pensant]

Spoke with a nurse recently who told me he’s seen lots of suspected cases that were ruled out and only one true positive at his hospital.

Oh Ziya, your perfect ass is the ideal tonic these days!

[+ Pensant]

By the way, an interesting bit of information which may help. There seems to have been an increase of anosmia related to CoVid. Anosmia is the loss of smell. It seems that many people are losing a sense of smell and taste during the infection AND while still otherwise asymptoimatic. Now this may just be apocryphal, urban legend, but I know of one person who complained to me about the food at his favorite restaurant was bland and his wine was off. Four days later he became more traditionally ill. He has subsequently tested positive and has stayed relatively healthy though miserable with the body aches, headache and low grade fever.

So, if you find the food doesn't taste right or your sense of smell is not right, it may be time to be tested, if you can find the test.

I must admit to going out of my way to check my sense of smell against some usually harsh smells like bleach and cologne.

My friend told me he could not smell bleach and he drank his coffee with soured milk until he noticed the curds floating on top. When he took a sniff of the container, it did not stimulate the usual grimace.

I just sniffed my Zinfandel and could pick up the bouquet. Hallelujah!

[+ purplekow]

My spouse lost his sense of smell a few years ago, but his neurologist said that is not uncommon when someone develops Alzheimer's.

It is true as we age, without or without Alzheimer's the sense of smells well as taste, hearing and eyesight all diminish. With Covid, it is a sudden perceptible loss of smell and taste. In normal aging, it usually goes unnoticed or happens over a long period of time.