SARS-2/COVID19 is a human coronavirus, aka "the common cold". Both PCR tests and antibody tests can show positive on almost any other human coronavirus.
PCR is a manufacturing technique, used to multiply DNA/RNA fragments, and is only certified as a valid test if there is a gold standard to compare it to. There is no such standard. Usually PCR tests are validated via antibody tests or cultures but neither is possible with SARS-2 because viruses are not alive ( viruses are a waste product our own cells manufacture so you can't culture viruses in a Petri dish) AND...
Antibody tests, according to the CDC, will likely show positive for any human coronavirus, which make up ~15% of the 500+ viruses that collectively are known as "the common cold" or "the flu".
I would not doubt that every pediatric patient had been exposed to the common cold previously (antibodies) or was actively ill with the common cold (PRC). It is also known that the CDC was inflating numbers by counting every test as a new case even when the same patient was being repeatedly tested.
My stab at the wind is that they indeed had 8171 "positive" test results, but it could have been the same kid 8171 times or 8171 kids with one of the ~75 other human coronaviruses or some combination thereof.
Seems to be an ambiguous phrasing that the cumulative total of positive test cases is 8171 for that city/county/state, of which 85 are infants.
Pretty typical "This was false but we are still correct" news word games...
SARS-2/COVID19 is a human coronavirus, aka "the common cold". Both PCR tests and antibody tests can show positive on almost any other human coronavirus.
PCR is a manufacturing technique, used to multiply DNA/RNA fragments, and is only certified as a valid test if there is a gold standard to compare it to. There is no such standard. Usually PCR tests are validated via antibody tests or cultures but neither is possible with SARS-2 because viruses are not alive ( viruses are a waste product our own cells manufacture so you can't culture viruses in a Petri dish) AND...
Antibody tests, according to the CDC, will likely show positive for any human coronavirus, which make up ~15% of the 500+ viruses that collectively are known as "the common cold" or "the flu".
I would not doubt that every pediatric patient had been exposed to the common cold previously (antibodies) or was actively ill with the common cold (PRC). It is also known that the CDC was inflating numbers by counting every test as a new case even when the same patient was being repeatedly tested.
My stab at the wind is that they indeed had 8171 "positive" test results, but it could have been the same kid 8171 times or 8171 kids with one of the ~75 other human coronaviruses or some combination thereof.