Coronavirus

[noel]

I just googled false negative results and the 30% estimate is now looking out of date with something around 8% thought to be more likely now. On the flip side, false positive results are estimated to apply to something like 0.8% of tests.

So the system, by those figures, identifies 10 times as many as falsely negative than it identifies as falsely positive.

So, as we've said before in the current situation, false positives aren't as much of an issue as false negatives.

However, if we get to a situation of very low infection rates, but very high levels of screening, false positives become (relatively) more important.