[–] 3 points 2 years ago

You might live in a bubble, because covid is everywhere

Rapid tests that rely on nasal swabs are prone to false negatives, so a lot of people get mild symptoms like sniffles or an itchy throat, test negative, and then assume they don't have covid when they actually might

Mild symptoms don't mean mild disease, either -- there are people who never show symptoms and still end up with vascular damage. It's never a good idea to only judge a virus by its acute symptoms

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    From September 2022:

    The number of reported Covid cases is currently a quarter of what it was at its peak last winter. But Chris Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, estimates that only 4% to 5% of infections are being reported, because so many are uncovered through at-home tests and aren't reported to public health departments, or they aren't being detected at all.

    The decline in PRC testing and a shift to at-home tests also leaves public health officials increasingly flying blind with regard to the spread of infections because few at-home test results are reported to public health departments, unlike with laboratory tests.

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