'Botched covid-19 test results in Britain led to thousands of extra cases' – The Economist
'Botched covid-19 test results in Britain led to thousands of extra cases' – The Economist
Friday 19 Nov 2021New research by CAGE Theme Leader Thiemo Fetzer is featured in The Economist this week.
Professor Fetzer's research seeks to understand the impact of Test and Trace on preventing new COVID cases. He analysed a natural experiment in which 43,000 infected people in the South West were mistakenly told they were virus free owing to an error at the Immensa testing lab.
The government was quick to assure people that the errors had not led to a rise in cases. However, analysis of the data by Professor Fetzer suggests that they did.
Read the original working paper
This research follows another analysis of Test and Trace by Professor Fetzer in November 2020, when he showed that the excel spreadsheet error which delayed Test and Trace from telling thousands of people about their positive COVID test result led to a rise in COVID cases.
Read the original working paper