SAN ANGELO, TX – According to the City of San Angelo, by August 5, there had been 14,872 COVID-19 tests administered in Tom Green County. Of those, 2,513 of those tests were positive and 10,567 of them were negative. Only 197 tests are currently pending.
After adding up the testing numbers, the result is 13,277 tests accounted for, leaving 1,595 of the 14,872 total tests not accounted for.
According to the City of San Angelo, the discrepancy arises from the types of tests administered.
"Before publishing our M/W/F reports, we contacted Shannon Medical Center and San Angelo Community Medical Center to get the number of pending tests directly from them," stated the City of San Angelo's Public Information Officer Brian Groves. "Because of the antigen tests, you cannot calculate the pending test category by using the other categories like was done in the past."
With the antigen tests, doctors are not able to report confirmed negatives while negative results are reported for the PCR tests. Without the ability to count antigen negatives, it leaves a gaping hole in the accounting for the total number of COVID tests reported.
Antigen testing results are not required to be reported to the Texas Department of Health and Human Services. San Angelo's health authority reports the antigen test results to the public anyway as an act of transparency. Positive antigen testing numbers have been incorporated into the City's daily positive test counts since June 30.
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I’m not a medical practitioner & I’m completely confused on COVID-19 testing. Why are there multiple tests? How can a reasonable person expect the same results from different tests? LIVE! should do a story, detailing the various tests & why they are different & why different tests are needed. I’m sure I’m not the only one asking these questions...
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PermalinkI'll recap what COSA is doing, drawing from what they respond to questions on Facebook, but an article would be better. Basically, there are three kinds of test.
PCR: Slow (days). Tests for current infection. Both positive and negative results are accurate.
Antigen: Very fast (minutes). Tests for current infection. Positive results are accurate. Negative results are not. Antigen positives, despite their accuracy, are considered "probable infections" and not reported to the state at all.
In COSA's report to the public, all "current" tests administered are counted in the total, and positives are counted in the positive numbers. Negative results from the antigen test are so inaccurate (only a little better than flipping a coin) that they are not included in the "negative" count, but since they ARE administered tests, they're counted in the total.
Antibody test: This tells you if you HAD the infection. There is a tiny window, late in your active infection, where it MIGHT come back positive, but it's not reliable for that, so the FDA hasn't approved it for testing current infection. This is not included in COSA's reports to the public. I don't know how it's handled (or if it's handled) in reports to the state.
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PermalinkIt's all a game of smoke and mirrors meant to make absolutely no sense to anyone and only to inflate numbers to keep the mass hysteria alive in the 80% of the population buying into all this B.S. while cowering in the corners wringing their hands together in fear, all while wearing their ineffective masks as told to do and dancing on the strings controlled by the puppet masters who are telling them what to do and when to do it..........
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