1/6 Questions have been raised in both the media and by people of high-profile about the accuracy of COVID testing and how this may increase case counts: https://www.wsj.com/articles/tesla-ceo-elon-musk-says-he-tested-both-positive-and-negative-for-covid-19-11605251724

2/6 Some particular arguments mention that inaccurate tests are inflating covid-19 case counts. We get it, it’s confusing. So here’s what you should know:

3/6 There are 2 types of rapid diagnostic tests currently used to diagnose COVID19
1) Rapid antigen testing
2) Rapid molecular tests

Rapid antigen tests detect viral proteins that may be present in ptnt sample, while rapid molecular tests detect viral genetic material in sample

4/6 Both antigen testing & molecular testing seem to have a high SPECIFICITY rate of 99% (i.e. 99% of people that are covid-free who get tested will test negative for the disease)

5/6 SENSITIVITY rates of antigen testing & molecular testing greatly differ
• antigen testing scores 56%
• molecular testing scores 95%

(56% of people who have COVID19 will test + for disease w antigen testing vs 95% of people who have COVID19 will test + w molecular testing)

6/6 What does this mean? Simply put, COVID-19 tests are not inflating the case counts of the disease.

On the contrary, the low sensitivity of antigen testing means that some true positives (actual COVID cases) are being missed by antigen testing.