After having read more than a dozen recent (12-2021 - 1/2022) new Rapid Antigen test / RT-PCR / qRT-PCR / dd-qPCR / Lateral Flow Omicron detection specific pre-print papers under peer-review, I conclude the following:
99% of "tested" Omicron cases are NOT full genome sequenced (aka "typed") to prove they are Omicron
Most PCR/LF/RA tests are proxies for SOME of the Omicron changes in ONE of the three current Omicron sub-variants = they detect for shit
Most Omicron specific duplex/multiplex PCR tests are too insensitive and they have to be** run at higher cycle thresholds** (Ct/Cq) than other tests = they become LESS specific and produce more likely a false POSITIVE results under any sample of material
Most of the above tests are based on the FDA "recommended" S-Gene Target Failure (SGTF) or S-gene drop out detection, which has already been proven NOT to detect the BA.2 lineage of Omicron (and possibly BA.3) = More of the same, FDA / CDC produce and recommend BAD PCR targets and most of the industry follows them for QUICK APPROVAL and MORE FALSE POsitives
Most of the "HUGE INCREASE IN OMICRON!" cases you are seeing, are just ERRORS, false positives from the above reasons: bad tests, bad primers, bad targets, too high Cq/Ct and lousy specificity = Omicron is NOT seeping across the world and infecting everyone
So the only question remaining is:
What is filling all those hospitals now?
Majority of those people NOT testing SARS-CoV-2 positive at all.
And all those people who FALSELY test positive for Omicron variant (only) of SARS-CoV-2 (and do NOT test positive for any other variant)?
You are already guessing the same as me. It's not the virus or a virus at all (not even influenza).
He doesn't understand nor have experience with NG single molecule read high fidelity full genome sequencing methods, and falsely thinks that shotgun rtPCR is same as these.
After having read more than a dozen recent (12-2021 - 1/2022) new Rapid Antigen test / RT-PCR / qRT-PCR / dd-qPCR / Lateral Flow Omicron detection specific pre-print papers under peer-review, I conclude the following:
99% of "tested" Omicron cases are NOT full genome sequenced (aka "typed") to prove they are Omicron
Most PCR/LF/RA tests are proxies for SOME of the Omicron changes in ONE of the three current Omicron sub-variants = they detect for shit
Most Omicron specific duplex/multiplex PCR tests are too insensitive and they have to be** run at higher cycle thresholds** (Ct/Cq) than other tests = they become LESS specific and produce more likely a false POSITIVE results under any sample of material
Most of the above tests are based on the FDA "recommended" S-Gene Target Failure (SGTF) or S-gene drop out detection, which has already been proven NOT to detect the BA.2 lineage of Omicron (and possibly BA.3) = More of the same, FDA / CDC produce and recommend BAD PCR targets and most of the industry follows them for QUICK APPROVAL and MORE FALSE POsitives
Most of the "HUGE INCREASE IN OMICRON!" cases you are seeing, are just ERRORS, false positives from the above reasons: bad tests, bad primers, bad targets, too high Cq/Ct and lousy specificity = Omicron is NOT seeping across the world and infecting everyone
So the only question remaining is:
What is filling all those hospitals now?
Majority of those people NOT testing SARS-CoV-2 positive at all.
And all those people who FALSELY test positive for Omicron variant (only) of SARS-CoV-2 (and do NOT test positive for any other variant)?
You are already guessing the same as me. It's not the virus or a virus at all (not even influenza).
Yeah, you know the answer and so do I.
https://www.popsci.com/science/omicron-cdc-overestimate-testing-labs/
Half right.
He doesn't understand nor have experience with NG single molecule read high fidelity full genome sequencing methods, and falsely thinks that shotgun rtPCR is same as these.