So are rapid antigen tests good now? Only a few months ago the states were saying theyāre unreliable and there were risks of false negatives. Iām so confusedā¦
Itās certainly strange given that it was basically announced that the Victorian government would be distributing a large stock of tests - are the Feds going to pinch that order and sell them at private pharmacies?
They absolutely need to be distributed free to the public. You canāt go out to the chemist to buy a test if you think you may be positive, so you need to have them supplied in advance.
Iād have bought some myself but even before the latest panic, the best Iād seen was 2 for $35, which just felt like not worth it given Iād assumed that I may as well just go to the handful of testing sites nearby and get a proper PCR test.
2 Likes
Itās a one-two punch: shrinking the ācontactā definitions for reasons of administrative convenience, and forcing those who donāt fit within that ludicrously narrow category to get and pay for their own tests (subject only to some hand waving about unspecified āconcessional arrangementsā).
This is, in one fell swoop, a deliberate dismantling of contact tracing and testing and a privatisation of the costs of āliving with Covidā.
1 Like
They have between 80-95% accuracy based on what brand you use (some are slightly better than others). However if you do 2-3 tests over seperate days that gives you a pretty clear indication.
Iāve read of some instances where people are getting negative rapid then positive PCR.
I think it would be better if we invested more in PCR tests (expanding test sites, more workers at sites and in laboratories processing the results faster) rather than spending lots of money on rapid tests which are not as reliable.
Thatās all well and good to say, but you need to find the extra infrastructure, staff and laboratories. Thereās only so much of this to go around.
Itās not sustainable to have so much of the workforce constantly spending half a day lining up for a test and then waiting 24-48 hours for a test result. I know people that have done this 3-4 times. So many people that are low risk are clogging up the system.
RAT give you a very quick results and are pretty accurate. Most inaccuracies are generally because you arenāt infectious or have a very low viral load. With RAT when they are more widely available you will likely have people testing more regularly too, as it is so much/convenient easier to do. In the long run this could be a benefit.
Letās not forget that PCR tests are still there for people that are close contacts or infectious. We are just encouraging more people to do a rapid tests to keep PCR for those that are higher risk.
So the new definition of a close contact is narrowed to contact with a case in a household or similar situation for 4 hours. So you now wonāt be a close contact in any retail or service environment. What then is the point of a check in app - seems it doesnāt have much purpose now outside of checking on vaccination status when that is required.
1 Like
I am assuming it is for unusual super spreading events?
Seems like we might as well delete the Federal COVID app - how useful was that? 
1 Like
I think weāve just given up now.
1 Like
Have any media spy members had covid yet?
Love to hear peoples experiences if they have.
Weāre vaccinated now, the point was never to stay locked out until Covid disappeared, itās here forever (always was). Omricon may have fucked things up slightly, but it was always inevitable.
I would argue Omricon is a good thing, it shows that Covid will become more and more flu-like (more transmissible but less deadly over time).
We had a peak flu season in 2017-19 that saw 4 in 100k population dying, many with co-morbidities. Hopefully covid can settle at a similar number (or lower) for the general population, although I suspect it will be higher.
Havenāt had it (thank Oprah) and no one in my family has had it either, however this time around I know of about 5 people from my company who have all had it. Severe flu like symptoms, cough etc.
Fortunately nothing extreme for those I know of.
1 Like
There was a scare at work just before Christmas, when the stepdaughter of one of my colleagues tested positive to COVID. We were concerned as he comes to the office every day, and he was at the stepdaughterās birthday party a few days earlier.
However, her mother and the rest of her family tested negative soon afterwards, and the girl herself tested negative (twice) the following day. The colleague also tested negative.
1 Like
iām one of the 20k from todayās NSW result. Symtoms started on Christmas Day with a runny nose and headache but cleared up after a couple of days.
3 Likes
Continue Discussion Here:
1 Like