Covid tests - false negatives

[Ipadipod]

A friend has been in hospital for a non covid illness, just as they were about to be discharged they were tested positive for covid so had to stay in. They were eventually tested again and it was negative so they were sent home.

They became ill again, an ambulance was called and they went back into hospital had another test which showed them positive for covid. The doctors said that about 30% of tests showed a false negative.

Another friend has had an ongoing cough and a few other fairly minor symptoms so had a test which came back negative and because of this they aren’t isolating (mixing with family and friends in the garden , going to the shop etc).

I wonder how many people have had a negative result and have been given a false sense of security?

It's been said from the start that false negatives are possible, which is why we isolate based on symptoms and not test results and why they were compaired to pregnancy tests.

As the doctor said, 30% won't show the true result.

The self-test is quite hard to do - swab your tonsils for 10 seconds without letting the swab touch any other part of your mouth. I had to get one of my DC tested - she had to do her own as she wouldn't let me put it in her mouth - and I would be very surprised if they managed to get a good sample out of that.

The tests are calibrated to be much more likely to give a false positive than a false negative (like pregnancy tests are calibrated in same way). No test is perfect, so they bias them towards false positive.

Found out yesterday that the doctors have said there’s nothing more they can do for my friend- heart broken for their family.

Ipadipod - that was a very quick decline. So sorry for your friend and their family.

I've heard quite a few people who have had all the symptoms and tested negative. In 2 cases, they were told not to come back into work in any case as they were so sure they had it (midwife and mental health nurse). Apparently scans are the most accurate way to tell - it has a quite distinctive pattern.

They were recently diagnosed with cancer and had chemo booked but then became unwell with a mixture of covid and the cancer, obviously I have only heard bits and pieces regarding it but they were very unwell when they first went in , they rallied and got sent home but then became ill again.