From John's Hopkins:
"In the report on the findings published May 13 in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, the researchers found that the probability of
a false negative result decreases from 100% on Day 1 of being infected to 67% on Day 4. The false negative rate decreased to 20% on Day 8 (three days after a person begins experiencing symptoms). They also found that
on the day a person started experiencing actual symptoms of illness, the average false negative rate was 38%. In addition, the false negative rate began to increase again from 21% on Day 9 to 66% on Day 21."
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/newsroom/news-releases/covid-19-story-tip-beware-of-false-negatives-in-diagnostic-testing-of-covid-19So at best, you have about a 1 in 5 chance of receiving a false-negative test result, so it would seem obvious that a decision to begin
crucial early treatment, should not be determined on the basis of PCR test results.
_______________________________
If You Have Coronavirus Symptoms, Assume You Have the Illness, Even if You Test Negative
Just because a coronavirus test says you don’t have the virus doesn’t mean you aren’t infected — or infectious.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/01/well/live/coronavirus-symptoms-tests-false-negative.html_______________________________________________
"Coronavirus tests miss one in five infections - and the rate of false negatives TRIPLES if someone is tested too early
Researchers looked at coronavirus test samples for 1,330 patients from across seven studies
One day after being infected, the false-negative rate was 100% and, four days later, it fell to about 67%
On the day that symptoms begin, day five, the false-negative rate was 38%
Eight days after contracting COVID-19, and three days after symptoms begin, about one in five infected people received a false-negative
Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19"
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-8406621/Coronavirus-tests-return-false-negatives-67-time-theyre-given-four-days-infection.html
