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Thread: Delta Impact on Herd Immunity
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Old 08-04-2021, 10:40 AM
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Originally Posted by GrumpyOldMan View Post
The PCR test was not developed to test COVID -19. Correct, it was developed in 1985.

The quote is actually from an article written by John Lauritsen in December 1996 about HIV and AIDS, not COVID-19 (here).

So, yes, it was developed without any COVID-19 virus to test it on.

The context around the quote shows Lauritsen is not saying PCR tests do not work.

Instead, he is clarifying that PCR identifies substances qualitatively not quantitatively, detecting the genetic sequences of viruses, but not the viruses themselves: “PCR is intended to identify substances qualitatively, but by its very nature is unsuited for estimating numbers. Although there is a common misimpression that the viral load tests actually count the number of viruses in the blood, these tests cannot detect free, infectious viruses at all; they can only detect proteins that are believed, in some cases wrongly, to be unique to HIV. The tests can detect genetic sequences of viruses, but not viruses themselves.”

I won't claim to know why the test is used - that is what scientists are for, they do that stuff for a living. But, I am fairly certain I will trust them before I trust you or Tucker, or anyone not qualified to understand.

You know that most deaths attributed to heart attacks are attributed to heart attacks because of a test that looks for a protein, Troponin T, or a look at the heart image to see if there is damage. It is NOT proof of a heart attack, it is something that is normally associated with heart attacks - so, I guess we should write off all those deaths attributed to heart attacks as "cause of death is a hoax".
Not quite, this time my friend.

First of all, it is troponin I, a structural protein of the muscle cells of the heart that get released into the bloodstream when someone has a myocardial infarction. It IS PROOF of a "heart attack", by definition. Now, the problem is that it is far more sensitive than an echocardiogram or a nuclear medicine scan at determining "damage", which pushes the definition of a "heart attack" to include minimal or even no functional damage.
In some ways this is similar to a COVID test that is sensitive enough to pick up left over viral fragments in a completely cured(or immunized) person who cannot transmit the virus any more (possibly like John Rahm)
So, here we go again---what is a "case" of COVID, and what is a "case" of a heart attack. As always the borderline is fuzzy.