LONDON — Boris Johnson’s spokesman says the British prime minister is continuing his recovery from COVID-19 and, on the advice of his doctors, is “not immediately returning to work.”
Johnson was discharged from St. Thomas’ Hospital in London on Sunday and then went to Chequers, the prime minister’s country residence, around 40 miles (65 kilometers) northwest of the capital.
James Slack confirmed that Johnson has now tested negative for the coronavirus and denied that the government had downplayed the seriousness of Johnson’s condition.
Johnson was admitted to St. Thomas’ on April 5 after his condition worsened and he was transferred the following day to its intensive care unit, where he received oxygen but was not put onto a ventilator. He spent three nights there before moving back to a regular hospital ward. After leaving the hospital, Johnson expressed his gratitude to the staff of the National Health Service for saving his life when it could have “gone either way.”
Slack said Johnson spoke over the weekend to Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who has been deputizing for the prime minister during his illness.
It seems odd to me (I might be wrong) that he should test negative so soon after release from ICU. Luck? False negative?
One test* isn’t enough due to the high false negative rate. Better do it again, several times a day, for weeks.
*the test involves ramming a long qtip=like swab up a nostril, to the eyeball, and rummaging around with it.
This is incredibly troubling. If his initial test was a false positive, and he had to go to the ICU, you have to ask why.
If he had a positive test, then got sick, and the current test is negative, then you at least need to do an antibody test.
The government may be saying he’s no longer sick, but that’s not the same thing as not having the virus. It’s a Trumpian level of stupid.
False negative is certainly possible – but in any event one needn’t assume either that the spokesman is lying or that one has been given the result of every test that was performed on the patient.