At-home COVID tests lead to under- reporting

A key problem with COVID statistics is that since at-home quick tests have been implemented, about 30% of people who test positive using them did not report the results to a public health organization or follow up with a PCR test. CDC does not require reporting of at-home test results,* nor do States like NM.** Another issue is that the at-home tests have a false negative result at least 15% of the time, and up to 49% depending on the test and the phase of infection. Which means that not only the tester but anyone with whom they come in contact likely gets infected.

Hence the statistics we get from public health are under-reported and unreliable in forming COVID policy. The CDC surely knows this so it's possible they no longer wants accurate data because it would require them to continue to advise precautions that interfere with business and people returning to a normal life. So even when we inevitably get a spike from the Omicron sub-variant due to the premature removal of restrictions, it will of course be under-reported and not require further restrictions thus leading to further variants and the continuation of the pandemic. The almighty dollar trumps public health, since it is after all our God.

PS: I give up on providing current NM COVID stats because of the above.

* "Mandated COVID-19 reporting requirements omit at-home tests, and there are no standard processes for test takers or manufacturers to share results with appropriate health officials."

**  The New Mexico Department of Health is not encouraging the public to report their at-home test results back to the state.