We have talked a lot about false negatives this week with SARS-CoV-2 tests. In these conversations we have often talked about how the false negatives appear at an unacceptable number. While I understand the ideal is to receive no false negatives, what is a realistic number of false negatives to expect? Is it really realistic to expect zero false negatives? I guess I don't even have any clue what other tests doctors administrator report false negatives.
You are correct; there will never be a test that shows no false negatives at all. 95% reliable, meaning only 5% false negatives, would be reasonable. The Abbott test, ID Now, is only 85% reliable with a false negative of 15%.