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If I understand correctly it means that the old tests tested only for covid and the new ones test for covid and influenza at the same time. This makes them more efficient because you won't have to test twice to detect each virus separately.

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That's not why they are decommissioning this test though. There's no reason that both this test, and a covid/influenza test cannot coexist. CDC is explicitly decommissioning this test, and it's not clear why in their announcement. I'm just trying to gain more context here. It's pretty easy to see how this could imply that the current PCR test could have issues.

It's encouraged to use test that can detect both to save both time and resources. It's literally in the announcement.

If labs want they can still test them separately.

They could coexist in a world with unlimited time and resources. We don't live in that world.

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