Hospital ERs filled with symptom-less, COVID-positive people in one state

Emergency rooms in Vermont are being overwhelmed with people who have tested positive for COVID but have no symptoms, bolstering the criticism that mass testing amid a pandemic is counterproductive.

Vermont, with about 77% of the population vaccinated, has the nation’s highest rate, but local WCAX-TV reported Vermonters who take the rapid tests and test positive for COVID-19 are “clogging up emergency rooms.”

Dr. Rick Hildebrant, medical director of the emergency department at the Rutland Regional Medical Center, said people should go to the ER only if they have a positive test and are very sick.

The Vermont Hospital Association told WCAX it is hearing of a similar situation in other parts of the New England state, with people who test positive with an antigen test going to the emergency room looking for a PCR test.

However, in January, as WND reported, the World Health Organization officially acknowledged that the “gold standard” PCR test used to diagnose COVID-19 has a high rate of false-positives that make it unreliable. The WHO warns that most PCR tests “are indicated as an aid for diagnosis,” meaning health care providers should consider at least seven other factors to confirm any diagnosis. A study in April 2020 found the “evidence shows that false positive PCR results are common enough to impact clinical and policy decisions.” In August 2020, the New York Times examined PCR testing data in three states and found “up to 90 percent of people testing positive carried barely any virus” and, therefore, were not infectious. – READ MORE