This photo, taken May 12, 2020, shows a sign from the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva next to their headquarters in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak. (Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP via Getty Images)
TO Newsroom
UPDATE 12:50 PM PT – Saturday January 23, 2021
The CDC has reported more than 24.5 million positive COVID-19 cases in the United States since March. This number was calculated using PCR nasal swabs, which were considered the gold standard by both the World Health Organization and the Center for Disease Control up to the inauguration day.
However, a new statement from the World Health Organization suggests that a simple positive test result from a nasal swab is not enough to confirm a positive case.
That announcement stated, “Most PCR tests are indicated as an aid in diagnosis, therefore healthcare professionals should consider each result in conjunction with the timing of the sampling, the type of specimen, the specifics of the test, clinical observations, the history of the patient, the confirmed status of all contacts, and epidemiological information. “
While the reliability of nasal swab PCR testing has long been known to be problematic, many now wonder why WHO suddenly got away from using one positive PCR test result as confirmation of infection. In previous pandemics, the data surrounding PCR testing was so shaky that the WHO did not even consider the test a valid indication of infection.
As former New York Times journalist Alex Berenson explained, PCR tests use samples from the nose and then multiply the contents of those samples until a fluorescent substance begins to appear on the sample, indicating the presence of COVID-19.
“A 40-cycle PCR test means you multiply the original, each original viral material in that sample by 1 trillion times,” said Berenson. “Okay, so a single viral particle that you pick up turns into 1 trillion particles, it’s really easy to find a virus in humans if you run a PCR cycle at that level.”
This 40-cycle protocol, which multiplies samples by 1 trillion times, is currently used by the vast majority of test centers and hospitals. However, Dr. Shawn Ferullo of MIT said that if your test is truly positive at the 40th cycle, your viral load is “so low that you are not infections and cannot spread the virus to other people.”
With this announcement from the WHO, COVID-19 tests under the Biden government will be investigated much more intensively, meaning test results will take much longer and new cases will decrease rapidly. That is, only if the CDC immediately follows the new standard set forth by the World Health Organization.