New Data Reveals How Effective Swab Coronavirus Testing Really Is

Novel coronavirus testing is required to help fight the spread of infection. How well do those tests work?

There are a lot of misconceptions about the effectiveness of these tests. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter provided information regarding the COVID-19 swab tests, the most common test in use.

It was said that if someone is infected with COVID-19 and they just became contagious then there is virtually no way that a COVID-19 swab test will detect it. That goes up to 33% in the following days, but at its peak the COVID-19 swab test is only 80% effective at testing positive for the novel coronavirus.

Regarding the swab COVID-19 tests, a study published on 5/13 that looked at a number of different studies came up with these numbers. If someone has just contracted COVID-19, it will never show up on the first day of being contagious. Even by day four, it’s only 33 percent that the test will come up positive. Once symptoms start, usually around day five, it’s 62 percent that someone with the disease will fail the test. By day eight and nine, it its 80 percent. On day 21, it’s back down to 34 percent although that is past the point of being contagious.

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The study was not specified in the report from the Observer, but the American College Of Cardiology published a similar report on the 18th of May. The conclusion written in their report is as follows:

The false-negative rate for SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR testing is highly variable: highest within the first 5 days after exposure (up to 67%), and lowest on day 8 after exposure (21%).

The general belief is that one test is not good enough. Multiple tests need to be done in order to make sure that COVID-19 is not present. The idea of testing with a false negative is also much more probable than it saying someone is positive for COVID-19 in error.

AEW and UFC are doing extensive COVID-19 testing for their rosters. They are the only two currently doing actual coronavirus testing as WWE is sticking with other protocol.