Is testing always necessary?

[MEmama]

7 minutes ago, freesia said:

Yes, that’s true and definitely nerve wracking for those of us whose children go to school out of the country. Although, in dd’s case, she’d just need to wait 11 days (3 for the test 72 hours ahead plus 11 to get to 14.). When I went to university in Ireland the grade for the year was based on final exams in May. Has that changed?  I’m not arguing with you that the unreliability is a problem at all. I just don’t know what a different solution would be at the present time. But I am trying for myself to keep perspective. I’ve been way too stressed trying to will things to go my way. There’s not much I can do if dd has to wait a couple more weeks to go back. She will miss stage managing a play that’s only for January, but she can do classes online. 

His first semester grades weren’t entirely dependent on final exams; idk about subsequent semesters/years, or different majors. I’m under the impression the graded work is more spread out.
 

Can you explain the 11 days? Do you mean that if she tested positive, she could retake a PCR 11 days later? So even if the test was inaccurate, she would have a second opportunity? If that’s the case I can breathe a bit easier (although, if it’s picking up a previously unknown infection, I guess it’s moot).

Idk another solution/path, either. I’m just feeling frustrated that an entire system seems to be wholly dependent on potentially inaccurate data. 

[Pawz4me]

2 hours ago, MEmama said:

 

I’m deeply concerned about the unreliability of testing—if we get covid but test negative for all the reasons that seems to regularly happen, we can mysteriously test positive 3 months later? How is this a workable system? 

 

31 minutes ago, MEmama said:

 

I was awake for hours in the middle of the night stressing about this scenario. In no way am I against testing, but if it isn’t reliable it seems like it’s causing an awful lot of headaches and needlessly—even dangerously, in the case of surgeries for example—derailing a lot of lives.

Someone on the cancer board I belong to had a confirmed case of Covid, has been recovered for several weeks, but is still testing positive on PCR tests. They've had to jump through major hoops to be allowed in to see their oncologist because of not being able to show a negative PCR test. This is at a very well known hospital in the northeast U.S. Thankfully it was finally worked out, but the whole situation is pretty crazy. A person who's dealing with cancer does NOT need the added burden of crap like that to deal with.

[MEmama]

Just now, Pawz4me said:

 

Someone on the cancer board I belong to had a confirmed case of Covid, has been recovered for several weeks, but is still testing positive on PCR tests. They've had to jump through major hoops to be allowed in to see their oncologist because of not being able to show a negative PCR test. This is at a very well known hospital in the northeast U.S. Thankfully it was finally worked out, but the whole situation is pretty crazy. A person who's dealing with cancer does NOT need the added burden of crap like that to deal with.

That’s awful. 😞 AND they had been previously tested so they had proof— what if they hadn’t, or had had an asymptomatic case, or a false negative? Gads. 😞 

[freesia]

11 minutes ago, MEmama said:

His first semester grades weren’t entirely dependent on final exams; idk about subsequent semesters/years, or different majors. I’m under the impression the graded work is more spread out.
 

Can you explain the 11 days? Do you mean that if she tested positive, she could retake a PCR 11 days later? So even if the test was inaccurate, she would have a second opportunity? If that’s the case I can breathe a bit easier (although, if it’s picking up a previously unknown infection, I guess it’s moot).

Idk another solution/path, either. I’m just feeling frustrated that an entire system seems to be wholly dependent on potentially inaccurate data. 

No, if she shows a positive PCR result that is older than 14 days and less than six months, she can enter. So, she tests this Saturday in order to fly Tuesday. If she tests positive bc of an asymptotic or a case we missed at some point then she would have to wait until more than 14 days past the date of her positive. She would not need to show a negative test at all. She would show the positive with the correct dates. I am not good at linking on my phone but if you google flying to Canada Covid you should get a link to the rules. 
 

eta: so the11 days is the 14 day past positive minus the three days before that she had to test. 

Edited December 30, 2021 by freesia

[MEmama]

41 minutes ago, freesia said:

No, if she shows a positive PCR result that is older than 14 days and less than six months, she can enter. So, she tests this Saturday in order to fly Tuesday. If she tests positive bc of an asymptotic or a case we missed at some point then she would have to wait until more than 14 days past the date of her positive. She would not need to show a negative test at all. She would show the positive with the correct dates. I am not good at linking on my phone but if you google flying to Canada Covid you should get a link to the rules. 
 

eta: so the11 days is the 14 day past positive minus the three days before that she had to test. 

Thank you!

[Halftime Hope]

Further examples of how destructive the limitations and misapplication of PCR testing have been.  It would have been much better if we had weighted doctor's wisdom in the practice of the "art of medicine" along with the tests, giving doctors and medical personnel the ability to make judgement calls:

I know of two instances where people tested positive and it held up their lives for months.  In the first, the lady was due to have colon cancer surgery in the summer of 2020, and she tested positive on her pre-admit PCR.  The surgeon was incredulous, since she was a senior and had zero symptoms, but he was powerless to change the institution's guidelines. The hospitals and surgery centers had just re-opened and had a huge backlog for elective surgeries, so she was not able to be rescheduled for another few months, and by then it was a Stage 4 colon cancer. 

In the second one, a very elderly man in assisted living became ill with COVID in the spring of 2020, but he had a rather light case. He was hospitalized, but not intubated or in ICU. He was in the hospital for several weeks and then discharged to a nursing home that was accepting COVID-positive patients. But he went for months and months registering positive on his PCRs, during which time no one could see him. (Aside from being elderly and frail, he was not symptomatic.)  No family were allowed, ever. He eventually died four to five months later, essentially dying of loneliness. His wife was heartbroken because they had no children, and there was literally no place for them to go so they could be together.  The assisted living would not take him back, as he could not clear the viral remnants; she could not go to the nursing home he was in, as they were dedicated to COVID-positive patients. The care he needed was beyond being able to rent an apartment and hire a nurse...and so on. 

ETA: I changed the wording on the first sentence to communicate more clearly. 

 

Edited January 1, 2022 by Halftime Hope