Depending on the test, there could be a handful of people for every hundred tested that get a result that doesn’t accurately predict whether they have the disease or not. The chances of that happening are usually low, but nonzero. Because of how tests work, there’s a chance that the results given don’t match reality. One thing to understand about a test is that the result isn’t a be-all and end-all, and tests are not created equal. Testing for the coronavirus is still not where it should be in the U.S., but even with the tests we have there are concerns about accuracy of the results from some tests. The CDC has shared guidelines for how to interpret test results.Each test can be studied for how often we can expect false positives and false negatives.
All tests can potentially result in false positives and false negatives.
