Quote Originally Posted by Mike T View Post
I have no doubt that everybody admitted to hospital now for whatever reason will have their Covid status checked. If the test is positive, then they have got it, though it is not necessarily the cause of their illness. False positive tests are very uncommon. If the test is negative, they still might have it, as unfortunately false negatives are common, up to one third or so. If someone tests negative but there are other things that suggest Covid - loss of taste/smell, hypoxia, consolidation on their CXR/CT scan, then they would still be treated as if they have Covid, though a repeat Covid test or tests would be done.

Covid is a cause of pneumonia - that is the commonest way it causes severe illness and death.

Somebody with a tumour on their CXR could have Covid like consolidation as well.

Even somebody admitted to hospital with a broken leg would be regarded as having Covid until this had been excluded - and one test, as discussed above, does not exclude it.
Here's my expectation.

Patient admitted and given a test.

That patient shouldn't be a covid admission without a confirmed test, so 48 hours in or whenever. Fine to treat them as with covid at first, but not to record them as such because once they are in as Covid, they will not be removed and it will distort the figures.

Then that patient should be retested again to confirm the first test.

That double test along with a doctor's diagnosis would give confidence to the "covid admission" label.

If they are admitted with symptoms, then there is perhaps a very good chance. But you want all admissions testing (and I agree) but if you test someone admitted with a kidney infection....

"if the test is positive, then they have got it"

is bogus. I'm sorry Mike, but that is just not right.

As far as what's "common" and "very uncommon" I can't see what you have to go off in order to make that assertion.

If False negatives are 20% and False Positives are 1% then they could be equally as common in a hospital setting and the False Positive will be far more common in a non-hospital setting such as the Pillar 2 testing and more common in non-respiratory admissions.

I'd also like to see "Covid Discharge" recorded.

Covid admissions = Covid discharges + covid deaths.

The stats constantly tell us the rate of admissions are on the increase, but an analysis the other day, I think of Liverpools hospitals, showed that discharges were actually higher than admissions and the pressure that has built up is now reducing.