Yes. Brianjones mentioned that they can do sequence comparisons and also real specificity tests. But only for viruses that are known. I would think that related viruses causing symptoms would be known if they are that prevalent. Other causes of false positives mostly relate to cross contamination before the test. Reagent contamination has happened but the big labs would test for this.
What do you guys think of CDC’s response to the coronavirus? Some I talk to thinks they are too conservative and treated this like SARS, and thinks they are going to hurt Taiwan by shutting themselves off from the world…
Or if you have even a slight fever from a cold during quarantine, they bring out ambulances and hazmat teams… seems like 70% of the people just get by without symptoms yet lots are dying in the US.
A major cause of false positives is or at least was amplicon contamination (previously amplified covid DNA in the lab environment ), but there are techniques and protocols to reduce this .
Other issues are poor primer specificity , operator error, poor quality reagents and operators who themselves are covid positive.
Of course running the cycle time too long is not going to help either.
I doubt that cross priming to other coronaviruses is a major issue but I haven’t looked into it beyond a cursory review above.
Not doing enough. Should be enforcing a 3 week quarantine. Should be testing all those with symptoms regardless of their travel history. Should be publicly shaming quarantine breakers and fining based on wealth, e.g. 25% of annual income, or bank balance. Most importantly they should improve conditions at the airport, give staff better PPE and enforce distancing.
Yea I agree they should expand testing… they only test here if you have a fever AND have traveled recently. So probably lots of no symptom covid guys walking around.
And what about the two-week quarantine? Is that “irrelevant”?
Foreign affair police told me they would test even if the home quarantine person had/reported diarrhea only. I don’t know if the test cost would be covered by the government.
Not doing enough? We’re at zero cases. We’ve been at zero for months with the exception of that Iranian dickhead. It’s the most successful response in the world. Do you think you somehow have greater insight into this than the CDC?
Yeah nah, probably not. We’ve been over this time and time again. There is no one walking around Taiwan with the virus.
One of the most transmissible respiratory viruses known to man doesn’t just hide out an a tiny extremely overcrowded island for a whole year.
It’s ludicrous to suggest it could.
Also -Taiwanese are coming back infected again and again , they do not have any magical immunity to the virus.
The only area I’d say Taiwan hasn’t been good at is securing vaccines. It was pretty late on in the pandemic when some were finally ordered, sending us right down the pecking order. I think only 30 million doses have been ordered–and the indigenous ones haven’t even entered phase 2 trials.
That isn’t good. Should have snapped up as many as possible, especially the Oxford one. If they ordered early, could possibly have started rolling out Pfizer now and be getting ready for AstraZeneca.
Yeah I guess they were hoping to produce their own so fell behind in procurement. I’m hoping my company will get me prioritized for the first batch (over fifty, hypertension, need to travel).
Is it really a priority considering the current situation? Vaccine are like tests, number do not really matter, results matters, but number is a good talking points for politicians.
Yes
I’d rather get vaccinated as soon as possible so the country can open up again and I can travel home again than be sat waiting around until the end of the year for the vaccine to reach me.
That is the kind of “selfish” thinking that leads to the epidemy propagating in the first place. We have a good life here, we don’t sit at home, and we can afford to be patient.
Not a given that the vaccine will work.
No it’s not. Not at all. A lot of us have family in other places.
I went back and forth between Taiwan and North America twice during 2020. Quarantine in Taiwan isn’t bad at all if you have a patio.
With the current state of knowledge even with vaccine you might be contagious and will need to quarantine or take precautions. Even outside Taiwan the vaccine is not initially available to people who just want to visit family abroad.
Where’s home? In these early days there is not enough vaccine to go around. If Taiwan had arranged more delivered earlier, that would mean less on the market including for your home.
Having endured varying periods of lockdown (from nearly everything closed, to choosing to spend most time at home) and an unexpected period of joblessness, I am very much looking forward to a near-future relocation to Taiwan. As soon as possible.
I would also like to get vaccinated as soon as possible, but right now the vaccines in my country are going to frontline workers. From health professionals to teachers to grocery store workers they need and deserve it more than I do. Waiting probably won’t kill me.
No it isn’t. Wanting to visit your family again after a pandemic isn’t selfish.