How COVID-19 Testing Works

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There are three different COVID-19 tests in use today, with several variations of each on the market. What, exactly, do they do? How accurate are they? What can they tell us about this virus? Dr. C goes into the details, concluding that education is the best defense against misinformation.

Links:

• COVID-19 antibody testing (MayoClinic.org)
• Antibody Tests for the Coronavirus (ScienceMag.org)
• Explained: how a covid-19 serology test works and obstacles to its use (ResearchAmerica.org)
• Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) Fact Sheet (Genome.gov)
• Coronavirus antigen tests: quick and cheap, but too often wrong? (ScienceMag.org)
• COVID-19 RT-PCR test details (FDA.gov)
• Your Coronavirus Test Is Positive. Maybe It Shouldn’t Be. (New York Times)
• Reverse Transcriptase (Wikipedia)
• Oops: Coronavirus testing at Boston lab suspended after nearly 400 false positives
• What on earth is a ‘gene’? Slicing and dicing the genome. Biblical Genetics, episode 8, 31 Mar 2020
• Proverbs 25:2

Intro Music by Xihcsr
Intro Graphics by MattWalkerVideo