Why LESS Sensitive Tests Might Be Better

I love the fact that you addressed some of the caveats in the end, many people often take everything at face value without questioning the information that didn't make it into the video, adding caveats at the end really helps people realise a 3min video is not all the information

The law of diminishing returns: 90% sensitivity only costs 10% the price.

I like how they said physical distancing over social distancing.

It is worth mentioning that while the rapid antigen test is 80-90% as effective as PCR, it's not like taking it multiple times will much improve its screening capacity. If the virus is present at low viral loads, there is no replacement for PCR. Seems to me that if you are interested in visiting an at risk family member or are getting ready for an operation, go for the PCR.

I live in a homeless shelter. They give these tests everyday. I have been tested about 6(negative :) tests so far. Kinda blown away by the what they have spent so far. I’m just one of hundreds here.

The rapid tests vary in sensitivity. There is one where sensitivity is 80% when the person is showing symptoms but only 40% in asymptomatic individuals. Specificity was 98% in both cases

So it's really "The Case for faster, cheaper tests", despite their lower sensitivity.

One small note from me as a citizen of Slovakia, which study was mentioned here. Implementation in Slovakia was done in such way, that there were really hard punishments for people who decided not to join nation wide screening tests, therefore lot of people got tested and were willing to even wait hours in queue. Problem is that these queues didn't followed social distancing since there was literally not sufficient space for queue following social distancing. Therefore after this nation wide screening rate infected people rise dramatically. I personally got infected between 2 rounds (was negative after first screening but positive after second one, yet following all precautions)

PCR test takes about 8 hours lab time to be processed. It's not days slow, unless the lab is overloaded and samples needs days to be transported. PCR sensitivity is definitely not a problem. You can exploit it to test groups, instead individuals. You mix the samples of 5-10 people into a single test sample. If the result is negative, then nobody in the group is infectious. If the result is positive, then you have to test the individual samples.

Worth mentioning that in medicine sensitivity refers to the "true positive" rate of a test, ie of how many people with the disease will the test come back positive. This means that RT-PCR tests are actually not very sensitive at all, rather their advantage is the specificity, which is the "true negative" rate. I know this is pedantic and jargon, but medical jargon is nevertheless important.

In Australia we get pcr test results back within a day

I think it’s still a huge advantage to identify infected people in the very late stages since you could then test or quarantine their close contacts and catch up the chain that was kicked off by that person

for countries where covid is out of control this makes some sense, in countries like Australia, China, NZ, Singapore etc. the more sensitive test is essential in the screening to prevent foreign case influx in lieu of local transmission.

Literally amazed that you provided caveats in the end and how you provide the information by graph.

i love how you masterfully condense important information into easily digestible chunks. great job and thank you

I adore that music Dr. Schroeder Silent City one of the best tracks to ever exist

it only makes sense to me to implement antigen testing when the infection rate is very high. However, once it is not as prevalent in the community then it makes more sense to use pcr.

Which source is related to the "Increase of COVID testing needed" per country?

Really thanks for this video! Currently Im working with a research group in Imperial College London to develop fast graphene field effect transistor lateral tests with sensitivity greater than 90% and results come within few minutes (reusable*). This video will help us to build stronger arguments for GFET lateral tests! Many Thanks.

So great!!! I wish we had this video 6 months ago!