Britain’s Health Security Agency closed down a lab that sent out false-negative results. Afterwards, the region’s reported case rate soared
In September covid seemed to come to a halt in south-western Britain. Overnight, the positivity rate oftests near Bath and Bristol fell from 3% to 1%. Nowhere else in England enjoyed a similar decline.
By mid-month a local volunteer group said this apparent dip might stem from faulty tests. A few weeks later, the group and local scientists asked Britain’s Health Security Agency . Based on Britain’s case-fatality rate, this translates to 400-1,100 deaths. Surprisingly, this toll is not the highest that Mr Fetzer has attributed to technical glitches. In 2020 a spreadsheet error prevented Britain’s statistical service from reporting 15,000 covid cases to contact-tracers. In an earlier study, Mr Fetzer calculated that 1,500 people died as a result.Sources: “Measuring the epidemiological impact of a false negative: evidence from a natural experiment”, by T.
This article appeared in the Graphic detail section of the print edition under the headline "An Immensa cock-up"
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