Mastodawn

Jonathan Kamens 86 47

Our stock of rapid #COVID tests¹ is finally nearly used up, time to replenish.
We considered the #Altruan #PlusLife reader and tests, but it's sufficiently expensive that I don't think it's justifiable unless you need to run tests extremely frequently.²
Furthermore, it turns out that you can order bulk rapid tests from https://altruan.com/ that, even with the cost of shipping to the U.S., cost *less than $2 per test*.³ This is what we ended up deciding to do. Check it out!
#CovidIsNotOver

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Altruan

Jonathan Kamens 86 47 Jan 13

¹We got free tests from three sources: (1) we ordered as many as we could when the insurance companies were still paying for them; (2) we took advantage of the U.S. govt. program sending our free tests every time it was offered; (3) my wife's school was giving away tests like candy for a while.
All three sources of free tests have dried up and are unlikely to return. We're on our own.

Jonathan Kamens 86 47 Jan 13

²The PlusLife test is much more accurate than rapid tests, so if your priority is knowing as soon as possible whether you have COVID, it may be worth the money for you. Having said that, if you test negative on a rapid test you're probably not currently contagious and won't be for at least a day, and if you can get the rapid tests inexpensively as noted in my post, it's cheaper to test five days in a row with a rapid test than to test once with PlusLife.

Jonathan Kamens 86 47 Jan 13

³Furthermore, the Altruan site also has inexpensive COVID / Flu A / Flu B / RSV combo tests. They're about twice as expensive as the bulk COVID tests, but that's still a great deal! My wife and I ended up ordering 25 COVID tests and 33 combo tests for a total of $109 including shipping.
By the way, it is obscene that rapid COVID and combo tests in Europe cost a small fraction of what they cost in the United States.

Jonathan Kamens 86 47 Jan 13

P.S. #Boston peeps: if you need rapid #COVID tests and the price the pharmacies charge is prohibitive and you can get to my house in #Brighton, I will sell you tests for $2 each, which is basically what I paid for them and less than ¼ what you'd pay at a pharmacy. DM me or email h16ev3vs@anonaddy.com to arrange a pickup. Bookmark this for future reference. Feel free to boost.
#BostonMA #BrightonMA

@jik I just went through this calculation for my family & decided to get Pluslife. Considering the discount offered by this page:

https://virus.sucks/pluslife_en/

(almost $100 off) & the fact that you can pool test 3-4 people, we'll hit the break-even cost in several months since we test often (~1-2 times/month when we see my dad). Plus, the nerd in me loves the real-time data graphs in the virus.sucks app!

Agree that even without Pluslife, buying rapid tests from Altruan is smart, even w/ shipping!!

Unofficial Pluslife FAQ (EN)

@jik P.S. To be clear, I calculated the break-even point using the cost of buying rapid tests in the U.S. before I even knew that Altruan offered super-cheap tests, which I didn't see until I was just browsing around literally on the verge of checking out. Had I known earlier, it may have affected my decision, but really I am very pleased with the nerdy testing graphs. 😂

fritzoids Jan 13

the combo-tests by Fluorecare (which Altruan sells) are pretty good. They detected my covid infection at the end of 2023 before I had respiratory symptoms (only symptom at the time was an elevated pulse).

Ozzie D, NP-hard

@fritzoids @jik I told my spouse about these Fluorecare combo tests, and we decided to start a group order on #Altruan, opening it up to friends. We set a cap of 1000 tests ... which we hit two hours after she posted about it last night.

#CovidIsNotOver #InfluenzaIsEverywhere
#RSVisAround

@ozdreaming @fritzoids @jik Word of caution. It's only one paper and a small number of patients tested (178), but here is a study that concluded Fluorecare multiplex test did not perform well to rule out SARS-CoV2 and RSV. "the Fluorecare® combo antigenic does not reach WHO's minimum performance requirement of 80% sensitivity for SARS-CoV-2 in our study population." Looks like Fluorecare test for SARS-CoV2 alone though performed better than the multiplex test. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1386653223000410?via%3Dihub

fritzoids Feb 2

@huskify @ozdreaming @jik

Oh, absolutely. RAT sensitivity generally drops off at CT 25-30. If someone is symptomatic I'd regard them as having *something* and act accordingly.

Comparative sensitivity evaluation for 122 CE-marked rapid diagnostic tests for SARS-CoV-2 antigen, Germany, September 2020 to April 2021

https://www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2021.26.44.2100441#html_fulltext

Eurosurveillance | Comparative sensitivity evaluation for 122 CE-marked rapid diagnostic tests for SARS-CoV-2 antigen, Germany, September 2020 to April 2021

Introduction Numerous CE-marked SARS-CoV-2 antigen rapid diagnostic tests (Ag RDT) are offered in Europe, several of them with unconfirmed quality claims. Aim We performed an independent head-to-head evaluation of the sensitivity of SARS-CoV-2 Ag RDT offered in Germany. Methods We addressed the sensitivity of 122 Ag RDT in direct comparison using a common evaluation panel comprised of 50 specimens. Minimum sensitivity of 75% for panel specimens with a PCR quantification cycle (Cq) ≤ 25 was used to identify Ag RDT eligible for reimbursement in the German healthcare system. Results The sensitivity of different SARS-CoV-2 Ag RDT varied over a wide range. The sensitivity limit of 75% for panel members with Cq ≤ 25 was met by 96 of the 122 tests evaluated; 26 tests exhibited lower sensitivity, few of which failed completely. Some RDT exhibited high sensitivity, e.g. 97.5 % for Cq < 30. Conclusions This comparative evaluation succeeded in distinguishing less sensitive from better performing Ag RDT. Most of the evaluated Ag RDT appeared to be suitable for fast identification of acute infections associated with high viral loads. Market access of SARS-CoV-2 Ag RDT should be based on minimal requirements for sensitivity and specificity.

Maxi 10x 💉Jan 13

@jik In defense of PlusLife: There are lots of cases in which rapid tests don’t show a test line but the person clearly does show typical covid symptoms, while the flu isn’t currently circulating etc. That’s what got me to upgrade. (There are btw. ~20 % coupon codes for private persons but I don’t know if they would work with over sea orders.)

Jonathan Kamens 86 47 Jan 13

@frumble 🤷 a negative rapid test is a pretty good indication that you aren't currently contagious with COVID, because it tests the concentration of COVID RNA in your nasal passages, and the primary means of COVID spread is exhalations from infected people.
Just because you have COVID symptoms doesn't mean you have contagious COVID.
There is no such thing as "flu isn't currently circulating;" there are just peaks and valleys, never zero.
There are other things that cause "typical COVID symptoms."

Jonathan Kamens 86 47 Jan 13

@frumble You're absolutely correct that PlusLife is more accurate. I neither said nor implied otherwise.
What I said was I don't think the extra accuracy is sufficiently to justify the $300 (+ shipping) reader unless you're going to use it often.
Your calculus may be different, e.g., if you need to test often, you have frequent potential exposures, or it's especially important for you to have accurate results for whatever reason.

Maxi 10x 💉Jan 13

@jik I know, I know, the flu isn’t actually gone anytime but there are good public incidence numbers about when to assume it’s currently extremely unlikely to get infected with the flu. I want to seriously stress that a negative rapid test isn’t (anymore) a clear indicator whether you are infectious or not. In Germany, with those cheap r. tests, covid cautious folks often use several different brands and they score all over the place, sometimes better with a variant family, sometimes way worse.

Maxi 10x 💉Jan 13

@jik It’s super common in the covid cautious community to hear stories about someone repeatedly testing negative with or without symptoms and still infecting others, which are then testing positive etc. My trust in rapid tests has evaporated. Nevertheless, still a probably in 2/3 correct indicator and better than nothing every day.

@frumble @jik This is exactly what happened to me & why I finally got a Pluslife. I got covid last month & I suspect I got it from my son, who got sick about a week before I did. (Only other possibility is I got it while masked in public, which I admit is possible, but I believe less likely.) All his rapid tests were negative. Of course, I should have isolated him no matter what, but he was not amenable to that idea because of negative tests.

Maxi 10x 💉Jan 16

@ikuo1000 @jik »rapid antigen tests suck and false negative 70%+ at this point.«

https://jorts.horse/@dank/113829501302732333

𝐃𝐚𝐧 (@dank@jorts.horse)

rapid antigen tests suck and false negative 70%+ at this point. better tests are available, many locally, but they're not cheap https://lifehacker.com/where-to-find-a-pcr-covid-test-and-why-you-need-one-1850779459

jorts.horse

Jonathan Kamens 86 47 Jan 16

@frumble @ikuo1000
1) Citation needed.
2) I addressed this in an earlier thread: https://federate.social/@jik/113269396859918198. TLDR: (1) the only odds you care about are odds of test failure × odds of having COVID; (2) rapid tests are independent, so multiple tests dramatically decreases the odds of false negative; (3) rapid tests fail primarily due to weak concentration, which partially correlates to contagion, further reducing risk as long as you test multiple times over several days (which you should).

Jonathan Kamens (@jik@federate.social)

Hello #CovidCautious folks! I just wrote something in another thread that I want to expand on here because I think it will be useful to people trying to calibrate their risk tolerance for #CovidSafety precautions at home. Specifically, I want to talk about how at-home rapid tests can significantly reduce risk, despite all you may have heard about how inaccurate they are. #COVID #CovidIsNotOver @novid@a.gup.pe 🧵1/9

federate.social

Maxi 10x 💉Jan 16

@jik @ikuo1000 Source is in thread: https://jorts.horse/@dank/113833160286343525

Of course, one should test multiple times with the rapid tests to be 'sure' but you still can’t be safe.
It’s also not all about not infecting others, it’s also about knowing your own infection to stop sportive activities for up to two months, knowing when to start lung exercises to prevent some form of worse outcome etc.

𝐃𝐚𝐧 (@dank@jorts.horse)

@justyourluck@masto.ai 69% sensitivity in '21 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9021531/ 47% in '23 https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/73/wr/mm7316a2.htm 34.5% in '24 https://www.thelancet.com/journals/ebiom/article/PIIS2352-3964(24)00430-4/fulltext I remember reading independent testing of [IIRC] 26 tests that compared individual brand sensitivity and found only 6 performing even as well as claimed. I don't have the article near to hand, will add to the thread if I find it again.

jorts.horse

Jonathan Kamens 86 47 Jan 16

@frumble @ikuo1000 I find that it's better for my mental health not to continue interacting with people here whose COVID-cautiousness is so extreme that it verges on paranoia.
👋 *plonk*

@jik I can vouch for good service and good deals from Altruan website. I pooled an order with 4 other friends and each of the multiplex/quad tests came out to $2.55 a test which included the shipping cost. Ordered it over the summer in anticipation of the school year and holidays and still have a few tests left. Gave 10 each to my college kids. Expiration dates were 2/2026. When serial testing is recommended nowadays with omicron, cost of testing adds up
#CovidIsNotOver #COVID