Replies to post #170637 on DD Support Board and Research Team

[DragonBear]

COVID-19 through "RT-PCR"--- not antigen / antibody tests

There's a few things in play. First the CDC botched their test without knowing it. Then comes the mad scramble for antigen/Ab kits from China. Where EU regulations are more lax than...

China's

Thus, China is now clamping down on non-certified kits being exported.

A PCR would identify infected by finding viral DNA. But it would not detect those who recovered, unless they were still shedding virus.

The Ab tests would detect those who have recovered, or those with an active immune response from exposure to the virus. However, it would not detect those infected, whose immune systems haven't cranked up Abs yet. Possible false negatives. Allowing the infected to infect others. Then there's which Ab class are the kits trying to detect: early IgM, or IgG, IgA.

Where things are still flying blind are the ones who had mild cases of Coronavirus, are possibly still shedding the virus. If you don't develop all the symptoms, you don't get tested. That population isn't being tested, or detected due to lack of kits. Where one would need Ab kits out the kazoo to be able to detect this still small population. Thus, it's unknown how much herd immunity is present currently. Also not feasible to test the entire US population every week to find out.

All we know for sure is how many have been infected, and how many have died. That's one of the reasons Fauci keeps references waves of infections. Without a viable vaccine, no one knows when herd immunity will be obtained. Flying blind.