Talent Testing offered to provide the industry with a Covid-19 test so that we could get back to work, however, the CDC has rained on the industry’s parade today boy announcing today that the antibody tests are wrong more than 50% of the time.
The CDC also says that antibodies are not accurate enough to use to make important policy decisions.
“A test with more than 90% sensitivity and 95% specificity can still miss half the cases”.
I was informed today that TTS isn’t using the popular antibody test that has been in the news all day. They are using a PCR test. Polymerase chain reaction technology is considered the cold standard for detecting the presence of the virus.
From what I can find, the accuracy seems to be bout 70% on this type of test.
Two recent studies (from Cleveland Clinic and New York University), both of which have yet to be peer-reviewed and published, raise several questions about the accuracy of the tests. The FDC recently issued a warning over concerns of false negatives with this type of test. However, from everything, I could find it still stills to be significantly more accurate than the anti-body test that the CDC issued the warning about today.
Scientific America says that they are working to find a test that is just as accurate as the current standard, which uses polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to process the virus’s genetic material and amplify it for detection. But major technical hurdles still remain. “What you would want in terms of a breakthrough is that [an antigen] test is more sensitive, [or less prone to false negatives], and easier to use than a PCR-based test. And that is not so easy to do,” says Bettina Fries, chief of the infectious diseases division at Stony Brook Medicine. “Normally, PCR-based tests are more sensitive.”
Does this mean the PCR test that TTS is using is just as problematic as the antibody test? I don’t know. All I can say is, right now it’s a risk for either type of test. Both seem to be extremely prone to providing inaccurate results – so what’s the point of event taking one in the first place if you can’t rely on the results?
One Response
Anyone going back to shoot porn with a test that is wrong 50% of the time is an idiot. I pretty sure the scumbags who run the industry will try to argue that the test is acceptable.
In addition, the WHO is stating that we are still in the first wave of the pandemic.
If I was a performer, I would quit, sell my crap and go back to school or learn a trade. Risking your health for a fast buck is not worth it.