topic Re: Kids are faking positive COVID tests to get out of school in Community Chat

Kids are faking positive COVID tests to get out of school

Mindy D — Thu, 08 Jul 2021 01:15:04 GMT

Kids in the UK have a way to get their COVID tests to read positive so they can get out of school. The kids use cola to get the results they want. I read about this online in BBC Future. Other sources mention that lemon juice and orange juice are also being used. The trickery won't work for PCR testing though. It works on COVID-19 Lateral Flow Tests.

Put this article title into your search bar to read how the test should work and why the spoofing probably deactivates the negative results.

How children are spoofing Covid-19 tests with soft drinks

Re: Kids are faking positive COVID tests to get out of school

Goodie2shoes — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 19:17:41 GMT

Oh for heavens sake !! What's next ? I pray each day for families of people all over this world who died from this horrible virus. Loosing my mom to covid last year was devastating, I have had a niece who tested positive at 8 months pregnant, she's 24 years old and thank the Lord her and the baby are fine now, baby gaining weight and my niece is covid free. It's just a shame that people would think it's ok to play these games ! no matter what age.

Re: Kids are faking positive COVID tests to get out of school

Cakers3 — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 19:33:44 GMT

Well then who ever manufactures these tests didn't put much effort into safe guarding the results.

Re: Kids are faking positive COVID tests to get out of school

Mistreatedbycs — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 19:34:28 GMT

@Mindy D How does that work?

Re: Kids are faking positive COVID tests to get out of school

CelticCrafter — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 19:36:00 GMT

One of my grand nieces knew all she had to do was say she didn't feel good to get out of school for a few days while waiting for the test results to come back.

Re: Kids are faking positive COVID tests to get out of school

FiddleDeeDee — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 19:39:08 GMT

Kids don't see it as being a big deal (covid) and simply want to find a way out of school. Typical behavior for kids. I think what gets people is that this is about covid more than the antics of getting out of school.

Do I condone the behavior? No, but I'd be a hypocrite if I said as I kid, I wouldn't probably have tried to do the same thing as well with my friends. We didn't worry about tomorrow...why would we? That's part of the joy of being a kid. At least it used to be.

Re: Kids are faking positive COVID tests to get out of school

Mindy D — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 20:54:41 GMT

@Cakers3 wrote:
Well then who ever manufactures these tests didn't put much effort into safe guarding the results.

@Cakers3 @These are home tests that users swab in their mouths and then read the color change similar to home pregnancy tests. Safe guarding would fall on parents. Parents handing a test to their child probably had no idea that their kid would try to manipulate the test. Once the news becomes widespread, more parents will be on to the tricks their kids use,

Re: Kids are faking positive COVID tests to get out of school

Cakers3 — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 19:54:40 GMT

@Mindy D wrote:
@Cakers3 wrote:
Well then who ever manufactures these tests didn't put much effort into safe guarding the results.

@Cakers3 @These are home tests that users put in their mouths and then read the color change similar to home oregnancy tests. Safe guarding would fall on parents. Parents handing a test to their child problaybhad no idea that their kid would try to manipulate the test. Once the news gets spread, more parents will be on to the tricks their kids use,

@Mindy D I know what these tests are.

If there is a way to alter the results, I stand by my statement that the manufacturer should have known that these items could result in false positives.

Parental responsibility is limited; you are assuming every kid had a parent watching over him/her AND that the kits were all purchased by the parents.

The point is the test can be altered by cola, juice, etc. - which means the science behind it was not thought out.

Re: Kids are faking positive COVID tests to get out of school

Mindy D — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 19:55:15 GMT

@Mistreatedbycs @Put this title in your search bar to read a paragraph about how the kids do this and how this type of test works

How children are spoofing Covid-19 tests with soft drinks

Re: Kids are faking positive COVID tests to get out of school

teganslaw — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 20:50:46 GMT

If kids are faking Covid tests with soft drinks, the tests can't be real reliable. Isn't it possible that some of the positive results on adults happened the same way-because of soft drinks? This puts everything in a whole different light; now we won't know what to believe.

Re: Kids are faking positive COVID tests to get out of school

Porcelain — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 21:06:51 GMT

Malingering is nothing new. Presumably the kids are getting into big trouble with their parents for fooling around with something so serious.

I think something like this test does require that the person taking it actually wants to get an accurate result and know whether or not they have Covid. If a particular kid can't be trusted to be honest and take the test in good faith, their parents should take more control over the process to ensure they know whether or not their child has Covid, to avoid disrupting the whole family unnecessarily.

Re: Kids are faking positive COVID tests to get out of school

Marp — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 21:48:42 GMT

@teganslaw wrote:
If kids are faking Covid tests with soft drinks, the tests can't be real reliable. Isn't it possible that some of the positive results on adults happened the same way-because of soft drinks? This puts everything in a whole different light; now we won't know what to believe.

@teganslaw, if you read the article mentioned in post #9 it explains how the tests are faked. It has to be an intentional act. The article also explains how an intentionally falsified positive can be detected.

Re: Kids are faking positive COVID tests to get out of school

kitcat51 — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 21:56:33 GMT

Our future scientists....that's my positive spin for today.

Re: Kids are faking positive COVID tests to get out of school

Mindy D — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 22:11:52 GMT

Videos explaining how to do this appeared on TickTok.

Quoting from The Daily Beast article

"Sneaky Teens Are Using TikTok Hacks to Fake Positive COVID Tests and Get Out of School"by Jamie Ross, July 1,2021

"Videos uploaded with the #fakecovidtest have been reportedly been viewed more than 6.5 million times in recent months. One of them shows a seemingly positive result with the caption: “Who knew using blackcurrant on a lateral flow covid test will give a positive result? Thank me later.”"

Re: Kids are faking positive COVID tests to get out of school

just bee — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 22:52:19 GMT

@kitcat51 wrote:
Our future scientists....that's my positive spin for today.

@kitcat51

Or future inmates...

Re: Kids are faking positive COVID tests to get out of school

GenXmuse — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 23:18:17 GMT

Kids are definitely inventive with getting out of school!

Re: Kids are faking positive COVID tests to get out of school

bikerbabe — Wed, 07 Jul 2021 00:12:51 GMT

I’m having flashbacks to Ferris Bueller. 😂

Re: Kids are faking positive COVID tests to get out of school

Cakers3 — Wed, 07 Jul 2021 00:16:25 GMT

Question: How can it be proven that the test was faked? I would assume one needs a follow-up test in a professional setting.

If kids are savvy enough to produce a false positive test, wouldn't they still be found to be negative with a professional follow-up?

Re: Kids are faking positive COVID tests to get out of school

bikerbabe — Wed, 07 Jul 2021 00:37:31 GMT

Cola, orange juice, are acidic and breakdown the antibody proteins on the test strip. Yes, it’s easy to prove a false test and a regular PCR test follow up will be negative. The home tests are best for initial screening only.

Re: Kids are faking positive COVID tests to get out of school

Kachina624 — Wed, 07 Jul 2021 02:17:47 GMT

One thing about it... It'll only work once. Nobody gets covid every Monday morning.