  Mina and Andersen, authors of the Perspectives in Science: COVID-19 Testing:
One Size Does Not Fit All have referred to results and adopted conclusions from
recently published governmental report Pavelka et al. "The effectiveness of
population wide, rapid antigen test based screening in reducing SARS-CoV-2
infection prevalence in Slovakia" without critical consideration, and rigorous
verification. We demonstrate that the authors refer to conclusions that are not
supported by experimental data. Further, there is a lack of objective,
independent information and studies regarding the widespread, public testing
program currently in force in the Slovak Republic. We offer an alternative
explanation of observed data as they have been provided by the Slovak Republic
government to fill this information gap. We also provide explanations and
conclusions that more accurately describe viral spread dynamics. Drawing from
available public data and our simple but rigorous analysis, we show that it is
not possible to make clear conclusions about any positive impact of the public
testing program in the Slovak Republic. In particular, it is not possible to
conclude that this testing program forces the curve down for the SARS-CoV-2
virus outbreak. We think that Pavelka et al. did not consider many fundamental
phenomena in their proposed computer simulations and data analysis - in
particular: the complexity of SARS-CoV-2 virus spread. In complex
spatio-temporal dynamical systems, small spatio-temporal fluctuations can
dramatically change the dynamics of virus spreading on large scales.
