New Abbott SARS-CoV-2 antibody test has 99.90% specificity and 100% sensitivity
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Re: New Abbott SARS-CoV-2 antibody test has 99.90% specificity and 100% sensitivity
#2Waiting for the usual arguments why this is still not enough and our only solution is to have an infinite worldwide lockdown.
Re: New Abbott SARS-CoV-2 antibody test has 99.90% specificity and 100% sensitivity
#3Does anyone know what these tests cost?
Re: New Abbott SARS-CoV-2 antibody test has 99.90% specificity and 100% sensitivity
#4Waiting for the usual arguments why this is still not enough and our only solution is to have an infinite worldwide lockdown.
Please wait more quietly.
Re: New Abbott SARS-CoV-2 antibody test has 99.90% specificity and 100% sensitivity
#5Re: New Abbott SARS-CoV-2 antibody test has 99.90% specificity and 100% sensitivity
#6There seems to be no analysis of whether these are neutralizing antibodies. The idea of using serology for immunity certificates or "golden tickets" is never going to go well. Even with 99.9% specificity, if the population prevalence is 1%, 10% of positives will be false positives. If in real world testing, specificity is 99% and population prevalence is 1%, then 50% of positives are false positives.
Re: New Abbott SARS-CoV-2 antibody test has 99.90% specificity and 100% sensitivity
#7There seems to be no analysis of whether these are neutralizing antibodies. The idea of using serology for immunity certificates or "golden tickets" is never going to go well. Even with 99.9% specificity, if the population prevalence is 1%, 10% of positives will be false positives. If in real world testing, specificity is 99% and population prevalence is 1%, then 50% of positives are false positives.
Would you or someone else mind expanding on this thought a little? Why does 99.9% specificity mean that 10% will be false positives?
{added: great answers below} well worth understanding this point. In short specificity measures the % of the population tested which had false positives, but doesn't give you the ratio of false positives to positives or the probability that a positive test means you actually have the anti-bodies.
Re: New Abbott SARS-CoV-2 antibody test has 99.90% specificity and 100% sensitivity
#8There seems to be no analysis of whether these are neutralizing antibodies. The idea of using serology for immunity certificates or "golden tickets" is never going to go well. Even with 99.9% specificity, if the population prevalence is 1%, 10% of positives will be false positives. If in real world testing, specificity is 99% and population prevalence is 1%, then 50% of positives are false positives.
If we want to ensure that the active population is always above herd immunity threshold, 10% or 20% false positives would be acceptable, since the population in contact would still be 80 or 90% immune.
Re: New Abbott SARS-CoV-2 antibody test has 99.90% specificity and 100% sensitivity
#9Does anyone know what these tests cost?
In the US, they're $119 through Quest Diagnostics. In some areas and with some insurance companies, that cost is fully covered.
Re: New Abbott SARS-CoV-2 antibody test has 99.90% specificity and 100% sensitivity
#10There seems to be no analysis of whether these are neutralizing antibodies. The idea of using serology for immunity certificates or "golden tickets" is never going to go well. Even with 99.9% specificity, if the population prevalence is 1%, 10% of positives will be false positives. If in real world testing, specificity is 99% and population prevalence is 1%, then 50% of positives are false positives.
What's wrong with 10% of them being false positives? (also I think it's 9%)