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Nonsense. I am currently positive as a result of a lateral flow test. It was a useful means of confirming what I had was indeed Covid (the dry cough was pretty tell-take) and so to take appropriate actions.

They are absolutely not without significant fault and there doubtlessly countless false negatives giving people ideas they can go out when sick (stay home, Covid or not!). However it’s not fair to say that “PCR only works”.

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I did what CDC and the tests mandates - 3 consecutive days of tests. We had 1 person, got 3 negative tests, then other people got it from her relying on the triple-negative result. We thought she had tonsillitis as she had no other symptoms, but then after she infected 2 other older people, their symptoms were worse. A couple weeks later, the antibody tests showed BAUs up to the roof!

So, yeah, if you really want a meaningful and actionable test, which can limit the spread, it's the PCR. The rest could work after the fact being spread to everybody around you already. At the end of the day, this is the most contagious virus known to science!

May I ask, what are the appropriate actions which would be different or not appropriate at presence of the same symptoms sans positive test result?

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