General COVID testing discussion

[Berlin]

Inbound tests are the normal public testing centres, including drive through. Free.

At least that!

That tickle up the nostrils is bad enough if you ask me- got a really awful nurse yesterday who insisted that I must break into tears "as this is the best proof to indicate I got to the spot where I need to go". Needless to say, she fumbled up there for 15 or so seconds until she got the desired "proof" and it was no fun

 

[JessicaTam]

At least that!

That tickle up the nostrils is bad enough if you ask me- got a really awful nurse yesterday who insisted that I must break into tears "as this is the best proof to indicate I got to the spot where I need to go". Needless to say, she fumbled up there for 15 or so seconds until she got the desired "proof" and it was no fun

I know I am going OT, but when I had my last test the clinician told me the requirements had changed, and the swab only need to be taken 2cm up the nostril.

 

[Berlin]

I know I am going OT, but when I had my last test the clinician told me the requirements had changed, and the swab only need to be taken 2cm up the nostril.

I wish my nurse this week had heard about that one yet!

 

[Mattg]

I wish my nurse this week had heard about that one yet!

At the risk of totally derailing this thread, the test I had the other day was really not bad at all! I also noticed that he only swabbed one nostril, not the back of the throat followed by both nostrils as they do in Australia.

 

[Berlin]

At the risk of totally derailing this thread, the test I had the other day was really not bad at all! I also noticed that he only swabbed one nostril, not the back of the throat followed by both nostrils as they do in Australia.

I believe this has actually changed over time- it used to be throat and then both nostrils as well here in NZ at the beginning of the pandemic. I don't even want to know how it's done further afield- looks like there's many different ways to do it.

 

[andye]

Still throat nostril nostril in my NSW tests in last week in Sydney

 

[Berlin]

Still throat nostril nostril in my NSW tests in last week in Sydney

Oh- I cannot wait to do it again on arrival tomorrow! The joys

 

[justinbrett]

I believe this has actually changed over time- it used to be throat and then both nostrils as well here in NZ at the beginning of the pandemic. I don't even want to know how it's done further afield- looks like there's many different ways to do it.

Just be thankful we didn't go down the cough swab path that the Chinese did early on.

 

[Pushka]

I know I am going OT, but when I had my last test the clinician told me the requirements had changed, and the swab only need to be taken 2cm up the nostril.

My last one must have done a brain biopsy. I swear, it hurt so much it was eye watering. Tearing. My first two were nothing! If that was my first unless forced it would be my last.

 

[Berlin]

My last one must have done a brain biopsy. I swear, it hurt so much it was eye watering. Tearing.

Yep, same here with my last one. As mentioned above, that special nurse actually insisted that it's only done right once you start shedding tears.

She only made that fully clear later so here I sit, trying to force back the tears while she keeps poking. And all I should have done is to just let it all go rather...

 

[Quickstatus]

nurse actually insisted that it's only done right once you start shedding tears.

Hmm,
Shedding tears is actually not part of the promulgated CovidSwab procedure

One of the steps is to place the victim with their head against a wall (or if in a car - headrest).
2-3 cm into each nostril or until resistance then give the swab a twirl

The old adage remains true:
For sailors: never piss off the ship’s cook
For the rest: never piss off a nurse - their comeback can indeed be eye watering…

Pro tip:
Use some drixine in each nostril prior to CovidSwab

 

[Berlin]

Just got our day 1 test in Sydney: Easy walk-in by St. Vincent’s hospital in Darlo. Very easily done, well signed, nurses all fiddling their thumbs and bored to death as hardly any “takers”.

Medicare numbers, address details and phone number taken and then a nice tickle up both nostrils- yes both nostrils but not the throat. Not quite as deep as in NZ a few days ago but quite thorough turning and scratching for about 5 second each. No tears so easy as.

 

[jb747]

Well it brought tears to my eyes. I didn't know I had such a strong gag reflex either.

We were tested because a neighbour's child had come back positive. After most of the street went through this, with no positives, and her family were put in covid jail (and also no positives), someone gave her a rapid test, and it was negative. So, they had another PCR done, and guess what, negative too.

 

[Berlin]

Just as a follow up- our test result came back after about 10 hours in the middle of the night. How’s that for efficiency!

 

[Pushka]

Well it brought tears to my eyes. I didn't know I had such a strong gag reflex either.

We were tested because a neighbour's child had come back positive. After most of the street went through this, with no positives, and her family were put in covid jail (and also no positives), someone gave her a rapid test, and it was negative. So, they had another PCR done, and guess what, negative too.

Rapid tests are banned in SA. Sigh.

 

[N860CR]

Just got our day 1 test in Sydney: Easy walk-in by St. Vincent’s hospital in Darlo. Very easily done, well signed, nurses all fiddling their thumbs and bored to death as hardly any “takers”.

Medicare numbers, address details and phone number taken and then a nice tickle up both nostrils- yes both nostrils but not the throat. Not quite as deep as in NZ a few days ago but quite thorough turning and scratching for about 5 second each. No tears so easy as.

For interests sake, are testing directions being issued on arrival in Syd? Or do they expect you to just know the rules?

 

[Berlin]

For interests sake, are testing directions being issued on arrival in Syd? Or do they expect you to just know the rules?

Zero information on this. Like during the 'bubble' an endless wait on the airplane until a lazy government "official" drags their bum onto the plane to make an announcement and then a lot of dead trees utilised for a colour printed double sized leaflet on leaving the plane.

None of those mention the need to test but are rather generic and waffle about the usual 'wash your hands often' which is a great use of time and money. As a matter of fact, the printout even refers to 'Might have to enter quarantine on arrival'

There's one additional border control officer stationed right after the e-gate exits who barks at everyone "Vaccined?" to which you simply say "Yes" and you'll be let go without any further checks. At least that was the situation last Friday, might change over time, who knows.

 

[jb747]

We were tested because a neighbour's child had come back positive. After most of the street went through this, with no positives, and her family were put in covid jail (and also no positives), someone gave her a rapid test, and it was negative. So, they had another PCR done, and guess what, negative too.

A little more to this. They had her tested again. Negative. All her family remains negative. But, because of that first positive result, she has to remain in covid jail until the 14 days are up. I have no idea what the false positive rate is, but that sounds like a thoughtless application of rules, just because….

 

[N860CR]

Zero information on this. Like during the 'bubble' an endless wait on the airplane until a lazy government "official" drags their bum onto the plane to make an announcement and then a lot of dead trees utilised for a colour printed double sized leaflet on leaving the plane.

None of those mention the need to test but are rather generic and waffle about the usual 'wash your hands often' which is a great use of time and money. As a matter of fact, the printout even refers to 'Might have to enter quarantine on arrival'

There's one additional border control officer stationed right after the e-gate exits who barks at everyone "Vaccined?" to which you simply say "Yes" and you'll be let go without any further checks. At least that was the situation last Friday, might change over time, who knows.

I’ll report back at the end of next week. If I’m not given a direction to test, let’s just say I’ll take that as my direction.

 

[Quickstatus]

false positive rate

False positive rate for Covid PCA is extremely low
Most are caused by cross contamination of sample or test preparation.

However…..Note that False positive or false negative is not how test accuracy is intepreted - see below

There is no way of knowing if the test is a true or false positive and even if it is deemed to be a FP, the rules still have to be followed - which was 14 days self isolation but now amended to 7 days if Covid2Jab

During this pandemic I had said that NSW had one of the highest testing rates of any State - and that it was good
I have since come to the realisation that that view is not necessarily correct.

For many years, widespread testing for screening purposes in a pandemic or an epidemic have never been a policy anywhere. Influenza outbreaks only had influenza testing if the patinet was sick. The Covid pandemic changed all that and introduced the widespread screening testing

A better term for test accuracy is "positive predictive value" or "negative predictive value" .
This youtube video explains how disease prevalence can be influence positive predictive value. And how low prevalence of disease in a community reduces positive predictive value especially if testing is done as surveillance.

Read this article (scroll down to the false positive paradox and risks of testing asymptomatics" to see how a highly specific test can give a 50% positive predictive value and why I now suspect that NSW might have been testing too much - basically surveillance testing might more bad than good. I don't know for sure as I am not an epidemiologist but I vaguely remember learning about this decades ago in Med School.

Take home message is that testing should be targeted to individuals with a high index of suspicion.