Anthony Fauci: No replication of virus found above 35 cycles on PCR test

Background information: The PCR test looks for a specific tiny piece of genetic sequence. If it finds that, it doubles the amount of that sequence in each cycle, so it goes from 1 to 2 to 4 to 8, 16, 32, 64, etc.

With 35 cycles, you have 2 to the power 35, or 34 BILLION times as much specific genetic material as you started out with. So even if you start out with a minuscule amount of genetic material, the test can still detect it.

With tests, a higher sensitivity is not necessarily better. Imagine a smoke alarm that is so sensitive that it can even detect if someone is smoking a cigarette on the other side of the city. The alarm would be going off 24 hours a day.

This is the same with the PCR test: it is highly oversensitive. Depending on the cycle threshold, 95% or more of positive tests are clinical false positives. That means that the person does not have COVID and is not infectious. https://rumble.com/vnb0o3-john-ioannidis-on-pcr-test-clinical-false-positive-rate-is-90-or-more.html

The real goal of testing should NOT be to detect some genetic material (analytical sensitivity and specificity), but to help in determining a diagnosis (clinical sensitivity and specificity), i.e. to see if someone has COVID and/or is COVID infectious. The test may or may not be good at the former, but it is horribly bad at the latter.

In many locations, the test is used in significantly more than 35 cycles:
- South Africa uses up to 45 cycles. https://twitter.com/dragonfishy/status/1466715571106447360
- New South Wales (Australia) uses 40-45 cycles. https://www.pathology.health.nsw.gov.au/covid-19-info/sars-cov2-nat

This means the test is at least 2 to the power 10, or 1024 times, too sensitive, which leads to an enormous amount of clinical false positives.

Long story short: the PCR test is highly oversensitive, which is extremely bad for reaching an accurate diagnosis. If you don't know the maximum number of cycles and Ct-threshold, a positive result does not mean anything.