How accurate are COVID and anti-body tests in NJ?

You probably know someone in your life, or perhaps you yourself think that you had COVID, but were never tested. So many of the people we talk to say they think they had it back in December or January or February because they exhibit all of the common symptoms of the novel coronavirus. But when they went for in the antibody test, it showed a negative result.

Then there are people who tested positive for it at one point, but were retested later and didn’t have the antibodies. There are also stories about how inaccurate the tests can be in general. But the authorities continue to push for more testing. The death rate will probably end up somewhere near the amount of a bad flu season when all is said and done if the numbers aren’t overly exaggerated. The lack of clear, consistent and reliable information and all the more unsettling.

Some people claim to have signed up to take the test and then got tired of waiting in line, left without getting the actual test, only to receive a notification that their test was positive. They claim they never actually took the test, but were notified that they tested positive. You have probably heard a story like that from more that one person. There are many stories like that going around. Are they true? It's hard to know, but in this climate, it seems to be getting harder to know exact truths. And even then, the "truths" seem to change from month to month.

A couple of things we have learned in this crisis that have always been true. Take care of yourself by living a healthy lifestyle and be very skeptical of the media and government.