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Lafiel on 08 April 2020
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SvennoJ said:
Lafiel said:

I think it's unfortunate they don't indicate that the testing numbers are out of date for many listed countries - it's updated daily for the US, but has been frozen for days (probably due to a lack of official announcements) for the majority of the others.

edit: wikipedia does have a testing list with an "as of" column https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_testing

The tests themselves are out of date the day after. It doesn't mean all that much when you have 90% negative tests, as those people can very well be infected the next day or even already been effected but still too low to show up on the test.

The anti bodies tests are a better indication but are any working yet?

https://globalnews.ca/news/6787778/guelph-company-test-covid-19-immunity/
many of these types of tests are currently in development and that each test will be different, but it’s not known which one will be the best.

Are any successful yet? Not this one :/
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-07/new-test-hopes-dashed-as-u-k-finds-antibody-kits-don-t-deliver


There's also the hope this will deliver

PlantForm is also in the early stages of developing antibodies to treat infected patients and protect front-line health-care workers.
“Somebody who is a front-line worker in an emergency room can be given a drug, and so for a short period of time, they’re immune to the virus. So it’s a protective mechanism that can be used in an emergency situation,” Stewart said.

tbh the PCR tests are out of date the moment the result is announced, as they usually process days old samples and have huge backlogs

but if you look at the tests in NY, NJ and Michigan, over 40% turn out positive, meaning there very likely are tons of untested covid-19 cases there, as in countries/regions with high(er) per capita testing results tend to be below 10% pos (and even there lots of cases aren't discovered)

I've heard in the news that anti-body testing machines have been send to various hospitals in germany, but I suspect they first use that to get a good idea of the accuracy before those can be used to screen the populace.