Amus de Wauchope

A number of conservative-oriented journalists and commentators have been falsely claiming the CDC's original COVID-19 test is unable to differentiate between SARS-CoV-2 (which was previously known as 2019-nCoV) and seasonal influenza virus particles.

This claim is incorrect.

This claim originates from the CDC voluntarily seeking the FDA to withdraw the emergency use authorization, which allows the test to be used in clinical settings.  As part of this process, the CDC issued an advisory instructing clinical labs to use an alternative test and suggesting labs should use a test capable of detecting and differentiating SARS-CoV-2 and the seasonal influenza virus.

This advisory should not be difficult to misconstrue, and the individuals spreading this piece of misinformation really ought to know better.

It is true, the CDC is withdrawing the request for an EUA for its 2019-Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Real-Time RT-PCR Diagnostic Panel - which is the test's full name.  When the EUA is withdrawn, clinical labs will no longer be legally allowed to use the CDC's test.  With that in mind, it is important to recognize the CDC is requesting the EUA remain in effect for the remainder of the year, and a source within the FDA has confirmed the EUA will remain in effect until December 31.  The obvious reason for this delay is the CDC trying to give clinical labs time to migrate to a different test, and avoid any test interruptions.

Yet, a tweet shared by Candace Owens of The Daily Wire states the FDA is placing the CDC's test in a class 1 recall - which would require any remaining unused test supplies to be abandoned or destroyed.

These two claims cannot both be true.  Either the FDA is continuing to allow the test to be used in clinical settings, or the FDA is requiring labs to immediately discontinue use of the panel.  Considering the FDA has not given a public notice of a recall (which they have consistently done for every other recall), the claim by Owens shouldn't even pass the smell test.

It is also true that the number of seasonal flu cases in the 2020-2021 flu season was underreported.  This was not a result of the CDC's test, which was originally developed in early 2020.  At the beginning of the 20-21 flu season, many other COVID-19 tests were available for clinical use.  Major commercial labs - such as Quest Diagnostics and Labcorp - were using and still are using proprietary tests which are better suited to their equipment and workflow.  It is unreasonable to blame the underreporting of influenza cases on a test which had been superseded by other tests developed later in the pandemic.

Unfortunately, the reason influenza cases were underreported is simple: no one was being tested for the flu.  When a patient presented to a physician with flu-like symptoms, a COVID-19 test was always conducted first.  If the test indicated the patient had contracted COVID-19, no other tests were ordered.

There is a popular saying, "the best lies always contain a shred of truth."  We have now arrived at that shred of truth: the high cycle PCR tests used to detect the presence of COVID-19 particles are wildly inaccurate.

It is reasonable to believe an individual suffering from one communicable respiratory disease, such as the flu, may have been exposed to virus particles of another communicable respiratory disease, such as COVID-19.  This should not be shocking, but diseases like to spread, and these two diseases spread in very similar ways.

Thus, we can reasonably assume an individual infected with the seasonable flu virus will have some non-zero number of SARS-CoV-2 particles in their respiratory pathway.  The small number of SARS-CoV-2 particles are then amplified by the inaccurate high cycle PCR testing and bingo, bango a case of influenza is now incorrectly counted as a case of COVID-19.

All the labs, hospitals, and so forth involved now get a fat check from the Federal government and your kids are left with the bill.

As far as I can tell Candace Owens was the first blue check to spread this misinformation.  However, being second or third is not an excuse for poor journalism.  If we are going to win the information war with the communist left, we, as patriots, cannot fall into the trap of spreading misinformation as Owens and others have here.  Most frustrating is how fast and easy these claims could have been disproven, if Owens or anyone else had carried themselves with any sort of journalistic integrity or used the least part of their brain.  Reputation matters.  Honesty matters.  When we make our claims, they must be true.