Even if the test says otherwise, your body might not be fooling you if it shows symptoms of COVID. According to Dr. Stuart Ray, Vice Chair of Medicine for Data Integrity and Analytics at Johns Hopkins Department of Medicine, if you are certain about being COVID positive, then you probably are, irrespective of your test results.
Speaking with Fortune, the doctor said that whenever the number of cases rises, there will be more false negatives simply because the number of infections is also higher.
Apart from a faulty test, a person might get a false negative result for COVID infection due to a few other reasons as well. Another cause could be that the nasal swab taken as a sample did not contain any virus content or virus insufficient for the test to come out as positive.
Dr. Ray explains, “When we sample the nose, we’re grabbing one little patch, a tiny little surface area, when the virus could definitely be replicating somewhere else in the body. The nose is one of the portals through which the virus enters and lives, but it’s also in the mouth and could be harbored deep in the lungs.”
An actually positive test could also come out as negative if you are vaccinated against the virus or have been previously infected. According to Dr. Ray, there are evidence that immunity to the virus decreases its level produced in the second time of infection.
The key point of the discussion according to Dr. Stuart Ray is that, “If you feel confident you have COVID, you probably have COVID.” The chances are more likely if you feel sick right after one of your close family members tests COVID positive.
It is important to note the exact purpose for which you require a COVID test. If you are looking to provide a medical report to your employer for not being sick with the virus despite displaying clear symptoms, the doctor advice getting a lab-based PCR test done.
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