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[Alex Atkin UK]

Is there trust in the antibody test now?  I remember initially, it was thought it was inconclusive.

[sevenlayermuddle]

Is there trust in the antibody test now?  I remember initially, it was thought it was inconclusive.

I don’t think they are 100% reliable, more like high 90s %.   That matters a lot if you, as an individual, want to know with certainty whether you have had Covid 19.

But for the purposes of statistics gathering they can just accommodate the uncertainty of the tests and build that into the overall bounds of the results.   Even if tests are only, say, 95% accurate, it still means the statistics may be 95% accurate, in absence of other unknowns.

Stress, I’m not remotely involved in the scientific field.  As an electronics engineer I was probably taught a bit about statistics, but that has long been forgotten.  Comments above may be at best an over simplification or at worst, plain wrong.

[d2d4j]

Hi

I seem to remember the antibodies test is reliable as you give blood for analysis

It was the test if you had Covid 19 which was not accurate- a pricked finger test rather then a full blood test as the antibodies test is

Many thanks

John

[sevenlayermuddle]

Hi

I seem to remember the antibodies test is reliable as you give blood for analysis

It was the test if you had Covid 19 which was not accurate- a pricked finger test rather then a full blood test as the antibodies test is

Many thanks

John

@John, I believe the more recent lab-based tests are supposed to be more accurate.

But the ONS stats may (?) date back to the times when only the less reliable pin-prick tests were available.    Also, use of less accurate (cheaper) tests might yield more accurate results overall, if doing so results in a larger number of statistical samples.

[sevenlayermuddle]

I gather WHO are changing their advice on mask wearing.  In particular, they seem to be advising that over 60s, and people with underlying conditions, should wear a medical (rather than home made or fabric) mask in some situations.

Ref the advice for over 60s and other vulnerable folks, does this mean they now accept that medical masks, even on their own, provide better than no protection to the wearer?

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/05/health/face-mask-coronavirus-who-recommendations-bn/index.html

BBC and various other UK outlets cover the same story, but in less detail.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-52945210

BBC article differs in one material aspect, saying that “over 60s with underlying conditions” should wear medical masks (in some conditions).  CNN directly quote WHO as referring to “people aged 60 years or over, or those with underlying conditions”.   It’s an important distinction as, if CNN are right, it seems to me that the advice includes healthy people over 60 as well as unhealthy ones.

[digbey]

No need to get the information second hand.
Read the WHO statement about the pros and cons of where and when to wear a mask.

https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/temp/who-2019-ncov-ipc-masks-2020-4-eng.pdf?sfvrsn=20ec1cbf_2&download=true

[sevenlayermuddle]

No need to get the information second hand.
Read the WHO statement about the pros and cons of where and when to wear a mask.

https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/temp/who-2019-ncov-ipc-masks-2020-4-eng.pdf?sfvrsn=20ec1cbf_2&download=true

Many thanks, I tried and failed to find anything on their own website.   Either it’s been posted very recently or you are better than me at finding such things. Or both.

[sevenlayermuddle]

I wonder how many other people might quietly question the dates and progression of Covid 19?

Both of us here had a pretty awful illness in early January.  For me it was cough, weakness and shortness of breath.  No fever, but I know from experience that my own immune system only seems to react with fever if an illness is bacterial.  Other half had milder symptoms but had very high fever, well over 38C for a few days.   We didn’t consult any doctors, and it got better.

This link, posted by a contributor in the BBC bias thread, is of interest.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-52935644

[burakkucat]

I had a "weird time" late January and into early February. Constant cough, worse at night. Difficulty sleeping (more so than my normal). No fever.

[Ronski]

I've had a customer at work tell me he thinks, himself, and a colleague had it in January after another colleague came back from Spain, all three suspect they had it.

A friend of many years told me at the end of May that he and his girl friend think they had it in December, his girlfriend works in a hospital as a manager for a group of doctors, the doctors have since told her they most likely had it as it's been in the UK for 6 - 8 months.

Some one else I know who's wife works in a care home think they had it in December, with six residents dying, staff ill, his wife had a bit of a cough, she thinks if it was the virus she may have passed something on to him as he had an odd chest for weeks and her sister was ill and had to go to hospital with pneumonia type illness in January.

Was it CV19 or something else, I guess we'll never know, but there's certainly no shortage of people that think they've possibly had it, and if it was about in November in China then it could have easily got back here in November/December.

[sevenlayermuddle]

Antibody tests can be obtained online, but I’d have a job persuading myself that most of the vendors were anything other than dodgy.

More credibly, well known retailer Superdrug offered them for a while for about £70, by which I might have been tempted.  Their tests supposedly were the later more accurate ones, sent off to be analysed in a laboratory rather than a hand-held gadget.   

But I understand they (Superdrug) were persuaded to stop doing so, not because the lab tests were inaccurate, but because they were not approved for self administration of the blood sample, which might affect accuracy.  Which is fair enough, I suppose.

[Ronski]

But an antibody test won't tell you when someone had it, so people who think they had it prior to the official first case still won't know, they could of had a really mild case recently.

[sevenlayermuddle]

But an antibody test won't tell you when someone had it, so people who think they had it prior to the official first case still won't know, they could of had a really mild case recently.

I see what you mean.  But for my own curiosity I’d  still be interested in being antibody tested (at my own expense) even though I’ve shown no symptoms with not so much as a sneeze, within the official time frames.

[sevenlayermuddle]

I came across this document on the gov website, interim advice to DHSS and PHE on the pecking order for vaccination, if and when a vaccine actually emerges

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/priority-groups-for-coronavirus-covid-19-vaccination-advice-from-the-jcvi/interim-advice-on-priority-groups-for-covid-19-vaccination

It certainly strikes me that it will be a difficult call to make, and guaranteed to be hugely unpopular with the majority who’ll have to sit it out for a while. I don’t envy the decision makers.

[niemand]

The virus was definitely in Italy in mid-December. Found in sewage samples collected in a few places there.

Thriva should have an antibody test ready to go soon.

There have been at least 1,200 separate arrivals of the virus to the UK. It's extremely likely that it was in the UK by mid-January and potentially even saw in the new year here.