Column #276
I’ve been hearing about false positives for months. Recently, even the state of Florida ordered testing labs to provide additional information to possibly separate the wheat from the chaff. Officially, Florida wonders if the number of reported cases actually represents what is going on. To help answer its question it wants to know the “cycle threshold” (Ct value) of each test.1 2
For an explanation of what Ct value means for testing integrity, I turned to Sebastian Rushworth M.D. He’s a practicing physician in Stockholm, Sweden, the country that ignored COVID-19 lockdowns. He has a relatively famous blog where he shares evidence-based information about health and medicine, his clinical experiences with COVID-19, and what is known about the virus.3
The most frequently used test is the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test. It is designed to detect bits of viral genome from the respiratory tract and report an active infection. For it to work the sample is magnified by repeating a series of chemical reactions over and over. If the sequence of DNA is in the sample, then each time the reaction is repeated the number of copies of the sequence doubles. Therefore, four cycles of the chemical reaction will produce 16 copies. Forty cycles will produce one trillion copies. With enough copies of the sequence, the sample is amplified to a point where other technologies can more readily detect the virus.
Obviously, if it takes only a few cycles to get a positive, the virus is very hot. But as the cycle number increases the chances for a false positive also increase. When amplified one trillion times it’s easier to detect very weak or dead DNA and even contamination. Since most tests use the 40-cycle protocol (some even more), there’s an excellent chance a significant percentage of the positive high-cycle tests are false positives.4
Now I’ll introduce Dr. James Lyons Weiler, a research scientist at the Pennsylvania State University, author, founder of the Institute of Pure and Applied Knowledge, the Chief-Editor of the journal “Science, Public Health and the Law.” He was videoed giving a 15-minute speech December 2, 2020 which every American must watch. One of the many points he made while discussing his concerns for the new COVID-19 vaccines, was that 30% of the PCR tests are false positives! To me, that’s almost like saying PCR tests are worse than just checking for symptoms.5
If 30% of the PCR tests are false positives and 20% are false negatives, out of 1.6 million tests per day, that’s a bunch of false readings. Keep in mind that the data errors apply to tests which determine if someone gets the green light to travel as well as those put in quarantine or the intensive care unit (ICU) of the hospital. Of course there are other factors beyond Ct values that can cause a misdiagnosis such as the timing of the test. A test taken a day after exposure will almost assuredly be negative. Tests taken eight days after exposure are usually very accurate.6 7
On an individual basis PCR test results can be very helpful especially when analyzed by a competent physician. But what is misleading is the raw data, produced from 1.6 million tests per day, that the MSM force feeds us. Maybe the best measure for determining how active the virus is at any one moment in time is to monitor the hospitalization numbers of COVID-19 patients. Yet that is not highly reliable because some of the patients in ICU may have been put there because of another ailment. Then while in the ICU they caught the bug just before dying. Or maybe they died of heart failure and got a false positive test. Who knows? As it is now, the MSM and some politicians have ginned up so much fear regarding this virus that rational thinking is out the window.
That’s why, in the first minute of the video, Dr. Weiler vehemently condemns the politicization of the health system and COVID-19. He says the manner in which it’s presented (by the press, by some political leaders, and some bureaucrats) the integrity of the nation and the medical field are literally being destroyed. On that I agree. Instead of living in abject fear, as individuals we should be proactive in strengthening our own immunity to decrease our vulnerability and concerns. If we are vulnerable, we should do our best to limit our exposure to infections. But if we’re healthy, life must go on and it will. Except for older individuals with multiple chronic issues, COVID-19 is about as deadly as the annual influenza bug we’ve dealt with for decades.8
In addition, I want to point out that the MSM panic over hospital beds is unjustified. There are 900,000 hospital beds in the country and 105,570 patients currently hospitalized for COVID-19. Hospitals are still rationing elective surgeries which means they have room for more patients. Normally hospitals are operating at 50% to 70% of capacity and today’s occupancy rates are similar to that long-term norm. Only a few hospitals in the hot spots are under actual pressure. Overall the nation’s hospital system is still idling along. It’s the MSM sowing panic for their ratings (or to promote one world order group think) that is causing all the hubbub.9
The virus is real, but mostly in the United States, England, Australia, and a few other countries has the level of danger been so totally blown all out of proportion. Many of the steps being recommended such as 100% mask wearing, distancing, shutdowns of small businesses, shutdowns of arts and entertainment, no fans at sporting events, students schooling online, restricted church attendance, and bans on family get-togethers are doing far more damage to our society overall than the virus itself.
In terms of years of human lives and personal wealth, that’s being lost, negative health dictates are ignoring the survivors. As Melinda Gates admitted, “We hadn't really thought through the economic impacts.” Obviously, the ultra rich, folks on government payrolls, the media, politicians, employees of the wildly profitable censuring Internet companies, and some retired folks just don’t understand what happens when the government’s boot is placed on the necks of the citizens.10 11
To your health.
Ted Slanker
Ted Slanker has been reporting on the fundamentals of nutritional research in publications, television and radio appearances, and at conferences since 1999. He condenses complex studies into the basics required for health and well-being. His eBook, The Real Diet of Man, is available online.
Don’t miss these links for additional reading:
1. Lies, Damned Lies and Health Statistics – the Deadly Danger of False Positives by Dr Michael Yeadon
2. Florida Requiring Labs to Report Critical “Cycle Threshold” of COVID-19 Tests by Daniel Payne from Just the News
3. How Accurate Are the Covid Tests? by Sebastian Rushworth M.D.
4. Was My PCR Test Result a False Positive? by Kim Schive from MIT Medical
5. Pathogenic Priming: Coronavirus Vaccine Safety Warning by Dr. James Lyons-Weiler
6. Daily State-by-State Testing Trends from John Hopkins
7. Reducing False Negative PCR Test for COVID-19 by Fatemeh Bahreini, PhD, et al.
8. Facts - Not Fear - Will Stop The Pandemic by Dr. Jayanta Bhattacharya from American Institute for Economic Research
9. Estimated U.S. Hospital Utilization
10. How Many Years of Life Are Lost to Covid? by Sebastian Rushworth M.D.
11. “We Hadn’t Really Thought Through the Economic Impacts” ~ Melinda Gates by Jeffrey A. Tucker from American Institute for Economic Research