Editing 2558: Rapid Test Results

{{comic
| number    = 2558
| date      = December 22, 2021
| title     = Rapid Test Results
| image     = rapid_test_results.png
| titletext = A solid red area with two white lines means that you have been infected with the anti-coronavirus, COVID+19, which will cure anyone you have close contact with.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is another in a [[:Category:COVID-19|series of comics]] related to the {{w|COVID-19 pandemic}}. 

This comic is a joke about COVID-19 rapid {{w|lateral flow test}} results. These devices are used in many countries for individuals to test their own nasal and oropharynx fluid for evidence of COVID-19 virus to detect asymptomatic infection.  These tests have two indicator strips - a test line for covid-19 and a control line to check the device is working correctly.  Where a control line is not present, the test should be ignored and repeated. Until comparatively recently {{w|Pregnancy test|pregnancy}} was the occasion [[583|most familiar]] for requiring this form of test.

The first 2 answers are the standard indicators for a negative and positive result, but Randall takes this to absurdity, see below in the [[#Table of results|table]].
 
The title text interprets the hyphen in "Covid-19" as a negative sign to make a mathematical joke (or possibly a reference to {{w|antimatter}}, which in reality mutually annihilates when coming into contact with regular matter). Here Randall postulates a counterpart virus to Covid-19, resulting in a test with inverted colors, which he names Covid+19. When combined this anti-coronavirus exactly matches the original one and results in zero Covid, curing those who had previously been infected.

This was the last comic before this year's [[:Category:Christmas|Christmas comic]]. It was about Covid-19 testing. The last comic before the 2020 Christmas comic, [[2402: Into My Veins]], was about the Covid-19 vaccine.

===Table of results===
{| class="wikitable"
!Result
!Interpretation
!Explanation
|-
|Control line only
|Negative
|As for all such actual tests, the Control line indicates that the test has run without error. Without this Control line (which ''always'' shows on a correctly functioning test after proper use), a lack of result on the test strip is meaningless. 
A control line with no Test line indicates that the molecule being tested for is not present.

|-
|Control and test line
|Positive
|This clearly shows the (un)desired test result, with both the Control line and the indicator of the tested-for condition.
|-
|2 wavy lines resembling the {{w|Approximation#Typography|approximately equal}} sign
|Approximately positive
|While it would be possible to make the test produce wavy line(s) by default, and some versions 'activate' more complex patterns such as tick-marks or wording, these are still binary yes/no results. The waviness or other patternation would not normally be contingent upon the testing state it must reveal, and the complicated pattern could result in a fainter Test line (However, {{w|National Health Service|NHS}} advice states that any positive line, no matter the strength, should be considered a positive).

A real test intended to produce straight lines might become wavy if manufactured poorly. Two lines would still indicate a positive test, but the poor quality of the device calls into question that result - making "approximately positive" an appropriate description.

Whilst this may have been unintended, it is worthwhile noting that lateral flow tests sacrifice some accuracy in order to be quick and cheap. They therefore have some risk of {{w|false-positive}} test results, hence the need for a follow-up gold-standard laboratory controlled confirmation test.  In this sense, a positive rapid test result would give an approximately positive result.
|-
|2 lines closer together than usual
|Positive (college ruled)
|This is the same as the Positive result, just with less distance between the two lines. {{w|Ruled paper#United States|College ruled}} refers to how college ruled notebooks in the United States have narrower spacing between the lines.
Again, there is no simple way to make the test reveal different patterns as a result-indicator of any qualitative or quantitative result; this is not a different result from the original Positive. It also remains more desirable to maintain an easily-identifiable separation between lines and not risk the Test and Control lines bleeding together into one.
|-
|Five lines of decreasing lengths
|Good cell signal
|Mimics the standard image for a strong mobile (or cellular in the United States) phone signal.
This implies that the Rapid Test being used in the comic can also detect cellphone signals, which is both strange and useless for someone trying to test themselves for COVID-19 (but useful to know if you're planning to call a hospital). Furthermore, it is unknown how a chemical test can pick up on electromagnetic phenomena involving radio waves.
|-
|2 lines on a background of radiating lines
|Did you know these lines are actually parallel?
|This is a reference to an {{w|optical illusion}} called the {{w|Hering illusion}}, where two parallel lines appear to bend outward.
Whether the radial lines can (or should) be designed into the test has no bearing upon the core test, and probably won't cause misidentification of whether the test reveals one or two clear "straight" lines.
|-
|Multiple lines in the shape of a scary stick figure
|The Blair Witch is near
|In the found-footage movie ''{{w|The Blair Witch Project}}'', stick figures shaped like this indicated that the Blair Witch was near.
The type of rapid test used for COVID-19 probably does not have any useful method for revealing the proximity of witchcraft,{{fact}} unless a witchcraft-related molecule could be identified that can be indicated within the sample material itself.
|-
|Three lines 
|Click to expand COVID menu
|A reference to {{w|Hamburger button|hamburger buttons}}, an icon that is widely used on websites to reveal a menu. It is especially used on mobile versions of sites designed to be read on a small screen, where compressing a menu until needed saves space.
This seems to show that the test can provide more data via a hidden menu, which shouldn't be able to fit on a small screen such as the one shown in the comic. Many COVID-19 tests have associated apps alongside the rapid test device for better analysis and dissemination of the results, but such an app isn't normally integrated into the rapid test device itself.
|}

==Transcript==
:[Header above the comic:]
:Interpreting Rapid Test Results

:[What follows is a set of 8 possible rapid test results for COVID-19.]

:[One line on the "C".]
:Negative

:[Two lines, one on the "C" and one on the "T".]
:Positive

:[Two curvy lines on the "C" and the "T", resembling the "approximately equal" sign.]
:Approximately positive

:[Two lines, not on the "C" or the "T", but they are instead closer together.]
:Positive (college ruled)

:[Five lines resembling a cell signal symbol.]
:Good cell signal

:[Two straight lines, on the "C" and "T", with lines going outward from the centre, giving an illusion of the lines being curved.]
:Did you know these lines are actually parallel?

:[One line on the "C", and two lines in a cross with one line sticking upward of the center of the cross.]
:The Blair Witch is near

:[Three lines, with one on the "C", one on the "T", and one in the middle of the "C" and "T".]
:Click to expand Covid menu


{{comic discussion}}
[[Category: COVID-19]]
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