re: CDC admits pcr test can't tell covid from flu

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After all, the vaccines are now FDA approved

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lol

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You’re half right and half wrong. The PCR test that was in dominant circulation up until this fall could not differentiate.

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Completely false.

Where is your link?

COVID and the flu don’t even have the same surface antigens. How could they not differentiate?

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Wrong. You select what you are testing for. You could test under a different settling.

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And THEN run cycle in 40 times and BAM!

Magically COVID

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PCR Testing For Dummies

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That article is pure propaganda as it relates to PCR test accuracy and threshold manipulation. Wow.

Fake news that has been debunked for months now. Here is what the CDC said:

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CDC encourages laboratories to consider adoption of a multiplexed method that can facilitate detection and differentiation of SARS-CoV-2 and influenza viruses. Such assays can facilitate continued testing for both influenza and SARS-CoV-2 and can save both time and resources as we head into influenza season.

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Here is how conspiracy theorists read that paragraph:

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"OMG, CDC is admitting their test was counting flu cases as COVID."

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Other conspiracy theorists took it a step further:

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OMG, this means PCR testing is flawed and cannot detect COVID. It's all a scam to inflate numbers!

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This is a classic case of reading into something that wasn't there. The CDC could have done a better job explaining it, but considering this was targeted at medical professionals I guess they didn't feel they needed to explain something that is obvious to other experts.

What the CDC is saying here is that their test does not test for flu. That's ALL it is saying. This is much different than saying their test was "confusing flu and COVID." No, their test did not confuse flu and COVID. The test looked for the specific SARS-COV-2 genetic material. It's like a fingerprint. You cannot "confuse" that for the flu. It's impossible.

The CDC itself has put this to bed and explained publicly that they want clinicians to use "multiplex" tests mainly to save time. They said that the demand for their test had declined significantly since other tests can test for multiple viruses at once. CDC still stands by the accuracy of their PCR test.

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Arguments can certainly be made that a positive test doesn’t necessarily equate to an individual being sick (although the overwhelming majority of the time they are) if that’s what you’re getting at,

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Yes this. That article not only doesn’t even acknowledge that pumping up the threshold equates to an exponentially higher rate of false positives, it doubles down on trying to convey that PCR is infallible. Even Canada’s version of this article is more even-handed than this one.

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Well, most people (other than athletes and politicians and asymptomatic individuals traveling, etc), get tested when they are having a flu-like illness. Negative flu and positive covid in this setting during known high virus circulation is pretty damned reliable. But I would agree with you in certain circumstances

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If these PCR results hadn’t been politicized and weaponized in every type of patient interaction over the last 22 months, I’d be more apt to agree with you. It’s simply been too easy to run a 40-45 threshold on a case of the sniffles or on an AMI hospitalization with the sniffles to gain a desired result.