CDC advises people to wear masks indoors at all times, except at home

[BumRushDaShow]

26. The problem with gel electrophoresis

is potential for cross-contamination and how that might manifest on a plate - including masking the targeted virus' DNA fragments (I have run gel electrophoresis) - particularly due to how the sampling is happening "in the field" (parking lots, on the street, etc). So that needs to be factored in when calling a test "positive" and would require more time. However, the issue that has been mentioned many times, is that you can test today and get a negative and then test tomorrow and get a positive, and in general, these tests are still more qualitative than quantitative, and the amount of viral load enough to cause someone to have symptoms or suspect they might be having symptoms, is apparently varying quite a bit. In fact, an infection may even be "missed" initially if the virus hasn't settled in the nasal passages/throat where the swabs go, but is multiplying elsewhere, not immediately accessible via the current testing protocols.