New Jersey, we asked the question almost one year ago, “Is Governor Murphy cooking the books during the COVID-19 pandemic?” Now, a year later, state Republicans are emerging from a year-long COVID-19 hibernation are starting to ask the questions they should have been asking a year ago.
Related: Cooking the Books: Governor Murphy Just Pulled 1,854 New COVID-19 Deaths Out of His Back Pocket
This week, Senator Joe Pennacchio questioned the PCR COVID testing method and how results may have distorted the actual pandemic case numbers.
Recent policy changes on the CDC website have lowered the cycling rate (Ct) of PCR tests for “breakthrough infections” to 28. A breakthrough infection occurs when a fully vaccinated person becomes infected with COVID.
The high cycling of the PCR has been criticized because over cycling of specimens leads to false positives and asymptomatic patients. The more a specimen is cycled, the more likely it is to pick up dead viruses and inconsequential genetic material, neither of which are indicative of the presence of COVID.
Each cycling of material doubles the genetic material, and Dr. Fauci has stated any cycling in excess of 35 is meaningless.
Pennacchio questioned why New Jersey cycles at 40.
“Running a test at 28 Ct seems to be the right thing to do, however running all other tests at 40 cycles creates a two tiered testing system,” said the Senator. Those vaccinated will have less of a chance of testing positive while those not vaccinated will find themselves at a disadvantage.
The variables of the PCR method has the effect of creating a “disease” that can appear or disappear depending how it is measured in the lab.
“Basing public health policy on a two tiered system that inflates one test and not the other is flawed,” concluded Senator Pennacchio.