Goossens was the head of the Testing staff until September, however he was also surprised on Sunday when all of the Christmas party attendees turned out to be “poor positive” on a self-test. In other words, a hint of a line appeared.
“Celebrated Christmas with (the adults) yesterday. The windows are open and everyone is tested outside (8°C) before entering the house. Deficiency: Each weak individual is positive. All were retested at room temperature: all negative. Beware of false positives in winter. Known issue,” he wrote on Twitter.
With a “known problem,” the microbiologist cites a study he conducted himself at the beginning of 2021. “It showed that self-tests at temperatures between 2 and 4 degrees Celsius gave false positives,” he told Media Hayes. “But that could be the case even at 8 degrees, I’m surprised, yes.”
a reason?
It’s not clear what caused these incorrect results, Goossens says. “Maybe there is a chemical reaction at temperatures that causes such a streak in the subjective test. This has nothing to do with the virus. But we’re still in the dark there.”
Goossens therefore advises everyone to store and perform self-tests only at room temperature. “Keep this test in the pharmacy locker. So it’s not hot either, because we know that tests lose sensitivity at temperatures above 37 degrees. “
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