Originally Posted by
slats11
BUT, a big problem is adequate sample collection.
Well, that's part of the problem. It's a part that is magnified by the fact that NAAT copies contaminating DNA as well as the genetic material being tested. In the real world, in Hubei, the results include simply enormous numbers of false negatives. In an interview, last week, with CCTV, Wang Chen, director of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, said that the false negatives were running between 30% and 50%.
It really doesn't look like there's a reasonable alternative, at this point, to relying upon clinical diagnosis, notwithstanding its obvious drawbacks. Reliable, rapid and readily-available tests and the ability to administer them properly just doesn't exist in the main outbreak environment.