This photo, taken on 12 May 2020, shows a sign of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva next to their headquarters amid the COVID-19 outbreak. (Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP via Getty Images)
TO Newsroom
UPDATE UP 12:50 PM PT – Saturday, January 23, 2021
The CDC has reported more than 24.5 million positive COVID-19 cases in the United States since March. This number was calculated using PCR nasal cap tests, which were considered the gold standard until the inauguration day by the World Health Organization and the Center for Disease Control.
However, a new statement issued by the World Health Organization suggests that a simple positive test result from a nasal swab is not enough to confirm a positive case.
The announcement states: ‘Most PCR tests are indicated as a tool for diagnosis, and therefore healthcare providers should consider any results in combination with timing of sampling, sample type, assay specifications, clinical observations, patient history, confirmed status of any contact and epidemiological information. ”
Although the reliability of PCR tests of handkerchiefs has long been problematic, many people are now wondering why the WHO has suddenly turned away from using one positive PCR test result as a confirmation of infection. In previous pandemics, the data surrounding PCR tests was so shaky, and the WHO did not even consider the test to be a valid indication of infection.
As former New York Times journalist Alex Berenson explained, PCR tests use samples from the nose and then multiply the contents of the samples until a fluorescent added to the sample begins to appear, indicating the presence of COVID-19.
“A 40-cycle PCR test means you increase the original viral material in the sample by 1 trillion times,” Berenson said. “Well such a single viral particle you pick up 1 trillion particles, it’s very easy to find viruses in humans if you run a PCR cycle at that level.”
This 40-cycle protocol, which multiplies samples by 1 trillion times, is currently used by the vast majority of test outlets and hospitals. However, MIT doctor Shawn Ferullo said if your test is really positive during the 40th cycle, your virus load is “so low that you are not infected and cannot spread the virus to other people.”
With this announcement from the WHO, COVID-19 tests under the Biden administration will be examined much more closely, which means that the test results will take much longer and new cases will drop rapidly. That is, only if the CDC immediately follows the new standard set by the World Health Organization.