PCR testillä on lähes 100% tarkkuus, mutta toki vaatii että virusta saadaan siihen näytteeseen. Se on sitten toinen asia, että otetaanko sinulta oikeasti PCR testi vai pikatesti. Jos kahdeksan kertaa testataan niin veikkaan enemmin pikatestiä (molemmissa kaivetaan nenää) ja näiden tarkkuus (varsinkin oireettomien kohdalla) on kohtuullisen heikko.
Esim tämä väittää seuraavaa jos tarkastellaan PCR testiä siitä suunnasta voidaanko systemaattisella testauksella pandemiaa rajata,:
Background Routine asymptomatic testing using RT-PCR of people who interact with vulnerable populations, such as medical staff in hospitals or care workers in care homes, has been employed to help prevent outbreaks among vulnerable populations. Although the peak sensitivity of RT-PCR can be...
bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com
"We estimated that the probability that the PCR test detected infection peaked at 77% (54–88%) 4 days after infection, decreasing to 50% (38–65%) by 10 days after infection. Our results suggest a substantially higher probability of detecting infections 1–3 days after infection than previously published estimates. We estimated that testing every other day would detect 57% (33–76%) of symptomatic cases prior to onset and 94% (75–99%) of asymptomatic cases within 7 days if test results were returned within a day."