CINCINNATI (WKRC) - Since the pandemic began, the push has been to do as much testing as possible, and with more tests came more positive results.
Now, people are speculating whether Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine's initial positive result will get marked as a new case, despite him testing negative later in the day.
"If somebody receives a positive test with an antigen testing, that test doesn't count, but if the positive test -- the test returns positive from the PCR test, then that is reportable to the state. So, you won't see double reporting," Tiffany Mattingly, the senior director of Clinical Initiatives and Quality Improvement at The Health Collaborative said.
Mattingly says the initial test DeWine took was an antigen test.
“The antigen testing is a much more rapid test, and while the PCR test is considered diagnostic, the antigen testing is considered more of a screening, and, so, if you don't have symptoms and you test positive with an antigen test, it's going to automatically be sent for a diagnostic PCR test, and that's exactly what happened with Gov. DeWine," Mattingly said.
The antigen test looks for a protein that is a part of the virus. The PCR test Mattingly mentioned amplifies a sequence of nucleic acids to detect the virus. The PCR test is the most common and the one used at pop-up sites across the area.
Mattingly says the antigen test is more of a screening than a diagnostic tool.
"You're going to see more negatives. So, it's fairly confirmatory for a negative, but you'll receive more false positives with an antigen test," she said.
While DeWine had an initial false positive, it doesn't always work that way.
"Somebody has symptoms, they get an antigen test and the test comes up negative. They'll still send that person for a confirmatory PCR test, which may come up positive. So, you could see the exact opposite of what happened with Gov. DeWine," Mattingly said.
The PCR nose swab test, when administered correctly, is nearly 100% accurate. But what about the antigen test?
"It's really difficult to just put a blanket statement out there of the percent of accuracy of one of these tests. I was looking at some data yesterday that showed there might have been five false positives out of maybe 100 tests or so and one false negative. So, you know, that's one machine, one point in time," Mattingly said.
