Covid Test Kits

 Yesterday morning, at the local grocery in my village....I stood there at the counter and these 'quickie' Covid test kits were on sale (box of five for 14.99 Euro....roughly $18 for five tests).  If I compare it against cost back in November/December of 2020, it's now around half the price.  

The quickie tests were popular when first introduced, and I would imagine around twenty-five-percent of Germans were testing at least once a week.....a handful might have been testing every other day.

So I noted this article in Focus this morning.....talking to the worthless value of these quickie-tests.

Up in Hamburg, for this survey....218 people were tested and noted as positive (meaning they had Covid).  This was done in the month of June.

So the 218 people were brought in and then tested via the PCR method (the method that doctors and clinics use).  ONLY 44 of them were identified as positive (meaning they really did have Covid).  The rest (80-percent)?  Nothing.....they did not have Covid.

The validity or trust with the quickie (cheap) tests?  Well....I'd say it's going down the drain.  It wouldn't surprise me if the test kits reach the level of 1.50 Euro each and regarded mostly as a joke.

If you had 218 women come up with a pregnancy test kit, and 80-percent were false-pregnant?  The government would probably stand up and remove the kits from grocery and drug stores.

My experience with the test kit?  I've used it twice....Easter weekend, when my wife strongly felt she had the symptoms for Covid.  I whipped out the kit that her company gave her, tested her, and she was negative.  I did a second test with myself....negative as well.  Two days later, the German doctor wrapped up the PCR test on her, and she was positive.  I had the same identical symptoms 12 hours later.  

So my own trust level with the test is marginal. How many of these kits have been bought over the  past year?  It's best not to bring up this subject.