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Going a bit deeper into Ricketts Glen

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Local roundup up: Wyoming Seminary, Holy Redeemer lose in semifinals of D2 team tennis

The coronavirus has wreaked havoc on human life &#8211; medically, economically and politically.
				In America, the virus has resulted in the closing of most businesses and institutions and widespread fear of disease and death. This has caused a major disruption of American society.
				But are these closings and is this fear warranted?
				Both are based on classifying anyone who tests positive as a &ldquo;case,&rdquo; even if asymptomatic, and there seems to be a hesitancy to publicize how severe &ldquo;cases&rdquo; are. There has been a liberalization of attributing a death to this virus. This must stop.
				Both are based on the use of tests to check for the genome, the RNA, of this virus.
				There are potential problems with these tests. They check for certain areas on the genome, not the entire genome, so other coronaviruses with some of these areas of RNA could be counted. They do not discriminate an intact viral particle from naked RNA, or fragmented RNA, neither of which is infectious. They cannot determine if &ldquo;intact&rdquo; viral particles are infectious. They do not count the number of virions in a measured sample.They may be carried out to amplify a result out of proportion to the real number of virions present.
				At best, they are sensitive screening tests, but their potential for low specificity makes them poor determinants of the extent of this disease in our nation and in the world.
				A better test is needed, and there are three.
				One is the viral plaque assay test which actually counts the number of infectious particles in a sample by growing them in a cell culture. This would give a precise count of how many infectious people there actually are in a given area.
				I have not seen the viral plaque assay described in the lay media and wonder why.
				We owe it to our children and grandchildren to open up America before it is too late.
				Frank Polidora, M.D.
				Drums

Your view: Time to use a better test for coronavirus