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Djokovic's PCR test was manipulated?

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Re: Djokovic's PCR test was manipulated?

#63
post #17

Good for Serbia for implementing some centralized system. A PCR test result in the U.S has absolutely no way of being verified, either negative or positive In Israel, which swabs every person who lands at the airport. There is a suspiciously steady stream of people flying in from the U.S who were negative before take off and positive 10 minutes after landing

Doesn't the thread suggest someone has fiddled the system on Djokovic's behalf? If that's the case then the centralized PCR verification system is nothing but a house of cards.

No centralised government conspiracy needs to be invoked here.

The corresponding QR codes in the documents still point to a negative and a positive test result in the Serbian database. The charge is that the Date of Sampling/Sample ID/Date of Results was swapped in what appears a Word document [1]

[1] https://twitter.com/zerforschung/status/1480924213309550594/...

Re: Djokovic's PCR test was manipulated?

#64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Sorry - it's only tennis Real question is why are the Australians running an international tennis competition in the first place?

I'd imagine the same reason why anyone runs an international tennis competition? Although in this case at least they've been doing it for 117 years... so they do have precedent on their side.

I think the parent comment’s question is more along the lines of “if Australia is so deathly afraid of Covid, why are they hosting an international sporting event at this particular time?”

Re: Djokovic's PCR test was manipulated?

#65
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A rapid or PCR test from within the last calendar day is required to enter the USA. It's pretty hard to get that in many countries now b/c the winter/omicron surge. Plus, it's often expensive.

I think the OPs frustration and what I've heard from Canadians is that the PCR is harder to come by and Canada doesn't accept rapid tests. Edit: Also, the cost is much higher. In Mexico I paid $25 for an antigen test. The PCR test cost $100.

And the timing/availability. I almost got stuck somewhere because the login/pass I was supposed to use to get my result never worked and the place was basically shutdown on weekends.

And that was at a $$$ private clinic.

Re: Djokovic's PCR test was manipulated?

#66
post #19

More fuel to the fire - no reason he should get a pass when other people can't. Sorry - it's only tennis and he's trying to cheat to get in. This isn't to political leaders talking about the fate of their people.

This is basically the Canada problem: we have tough rules for 95% of people, but we exempt 5% from it, so every variant quickly ends up here uncontrollably anyway. Windsor Ontario has something like 1000+ health care workers commuting to the Detroit area that have been exempt from most entry test/vaccination/quarantine requirements. Same for truckers and flight crews and ~30 other groups. I think this is only changin…

Your entry tests aren’t strong enough to prevent 100% of cases anyway. You need a strict, no exceptions quarantine that lasts long enough to cover any incubation period. And even then, workers at the quarantine site might get infected.

Probably not even worth attempting given our border has so many illegal crossings.

Re: Djokovic's PCR test was manipulated?

#67
post #5

I find it funny how some countries suddenly make your life a lot easier if you have a positive test history. Canada has a fairly annoying requirement to have a negative PCR test taken within 72h of takeoff (or arrival by car), which can be dicey/expensive in many parts of the world to get, but if you have a positive PCR result from 14-180 days, this requirement drops and travel gets a lot easier than those that never…

Why is that surprising? Recovering from a natural infection is more durable immunity than that of the vaccines. Even more so if you have both.

Please cite your supporting sources for that assertion. What I have been hearing does not support that, and even seems to be slightly the opposite (but not a lot of weight on those).

Re: Djokovic's PCR test was manipulated?

#68

Why does Australia even have a loophole that allows PCR tests instead of vaccination, without also requiring that the person can't be vaccinated? You'd wish the tournament could have been clearer here and just said that all athletes should be fully vaccinated, regardless of what any authorities say. It's PR after all, and the PR of an antivaxer playing is much much worse than the PR of Novak missing the tournament.

It's not testing positive per se that is the exemption, it's if you have a medical contraindication to the vaccine. The argument is that recent infection is a medical contraindication, which the tournament organizer accepted but the feds have not.

I mean the sensible position would be that a contraindication (allergy against vaccine) and recent infection should be the alternative to vaccination.

And obviously an athlete would need to fulfill the requirement of both entry to to country and to the tournament.

Re: Djokovic's PCR test was manipulated?

#69
post #17

Good for Serbia for implementing some centralized system. A PCR test result in the U.S has absolutely no way of being verified, either negative or positive In Israel, which swabs every person who lands at the airport. There is a suspiciously steady stream of people flying in from the U.S who were negative before take off and positive 10 minutes after landing

Doesn't the thread suggest someone has fiddled the system on Djokovic's behalf? If that's the case then the centralized PCR verification system is nothing but a house of cards.

If a government wants to falsify information on that level everything is a house of cards.

The Netherlands could make up 5000 ghost identities and issue them passports. How would passport control at JFK airport know?

Re: Djokovic's PCR test was manipulated?

#70

Could someone double-check my understanding of this? Is the conclusion that Djokovic lied about the order (and specific dates) of his PCR tests, with the goal of entering Australia while still testing positive?

Either that or the positive test is a fabrication that was backdated on paper to claim the „recovered“ status. I would also not rule out the possibility that there has not been a real positive test at all and that the tampering could include false data entry.

I think it is likely that there was no positive test at all. It all seems a bit coincidental that the only way an unvaxxed person without a medical condition could have gotten into Australia was via having a recent positive diagnosis and then Novak just happened to have a recent positive diagnosis. It's also suspicious that he has had a previous COVID infection. If there was no Omicron then I think this would be very suspect. Omicron makes it a lot less suspect because getting re-infected with this variant seems more likely and the base rate of infection seems to be higher.
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