If you have a positive test result, are you actually infectious?

As the virus lingers, so do the questions. The one Dr. Nolte says he’s asked most often is astoundingly basic: What is the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of the SARS coronavirus PCR test that you offer, Dr. Nolte?
“My answer is, ‘I don’t know,’” he says.
He can report the analytical sensitivity and specificity “in excruciating detail,” he says. “I can tell you what looks like a strong positive reaction and a weak positive reaction. I can tell you how we performed in proficiency testing programs. I can tell you to some extent how well we compare with other platforms.” But months into the pandemic, “I honestly cannot tell you what the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of this test is.”
He unspools more questions in need of answers. “What are the true clinical performance criteria of the test we are offering and will probably continue to offer for some time? The true diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of serology? Are there better markers of disease? Do we need qualitative tests? Do we need to be looking at host response? Do we need to be looking at subgenomic messenger RNA in clinical specimens to figure out, of all these RNA specimens, which ones are actually infectious?”

See CAP TODAY | Aug 2020 | Pandemic Summer www.captodayonline.com/the-laboratory-tests-of-pandemic-summer/ CAP = College of American Pathologists

WELCOME MTN KATHY .....

Your post (article link) was extremely enlightening.....it dovetails into what I have stated along.....THIS is 52 card pick up,throw a piece spaghetti on the frig and see IF it sticks.

The mind numbing reality is....after 9mo,we STILL really do not have a plan for this pandemic...the federal
level is a source of frustration and inefficiency

When professionals are doing the UTMOST. to find a solution/solve the puzzle and the maze becomes
even MORE convoluted,the end result is burn out.

THANK YOU for participating in an EXTREMELY EGREGIOUS debate/discussion. It is refreshing to
have a "new voice" on the board.

No. They want positive tests just as bad as they want someone who gets hit by a bus or light rail to die from COVID.

45 to 50,000 people die of the flu every year and we have a vaccine. We don't shut down the economy, small business or schools for it.

COVID should be handled on an individual basis just like the flu. Most healthcare workers don't even believe what they're being told.