Story Twists Facts on Diagnosing Breakthrough COVID-19 Cases

Tests that detect current infections with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, are known as viral tests. There are two types: a Nucleic Acid Amplification Test, or NAAT, and an antigen test. 

Many of the NAATs use a molecular biology technique known as the polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, to detect even a very tiny amount of the virus in a specimen.

The PCR test takes advantage of some natural features of biology to essentially scan through all of the RNA present in a sample — such as a nasal swab — and search for the presence of coronavirus RNA. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says NAATs “are unlikely to return a false-negative result of SARS-CoV-2,” and it recommends only laboratory-based NAATS, the most sensitive tests, to confirm infection. It also says saliva tests aren’t as optimal as those using swabs of the nose or nasopharynx (upper throat behind the nose).

An is designed to detect the coronavirus , a structure on the surface of the virus that