Question about false negative test results on CNN

[Lizw]

CNN had a Dr. William Shaffner on this morning (uncertain of the spelling of his name--I only heard the broadcast, couldn't see it) who addressed the question of false negatives on the quick test. His response was that a positive result gave them good information, but a negative result meant that the patient had to be further evaluated to see what was wrong.

Too bad he didn't also say that in many health care systems, the patient's family is denied Tamiflu because the patient couldn't possibly have swine flu. Or that the patient is told to just go home and rest because they don't have swine flu.