"If the benevolent government came out and mandated that every citizen must submit to supplying their DNA to a National database, for no particular reason - would you?"
I definitely wouldn't supply a sample, but "gov't" probably doesn't need it anyway. Your relatives, kids, etc. supply and often close enough familially to ID you as a "suspect". Witness some recent high profile cases solved by family tree search databases. Not much different from cell phone location records and the plethora of recording cams out there. Technology definitely has it's pluses and minuses.
Regarding covid tests, some misinformation is being spread in this thread. There are two types of tests: the rapid test uses antibodies to detect one of the covid antigens; quick, no sophisticated equipment or personnel needed, lower sensitivity and specificity...the PCR test detects actual covid RNA (yes, not DNA, it converts the viral RNA to DNA with reverse transcripts as the first step), is highly specific, and sensitivity is "adjusted" by cycle threshold cutoffs.
If you aren't conversant and have training in science related to the terms sensitivity, specificity, DNA, RNA, reverse transcriptase, DNA polymerase, please don't attempt to explain what you may have read but don't truly understand. Only adds to the "clutter".
Not an education, but some background here from Canada to help you understand, but not enough to be considered "educated".
https://www.publichealthontario.ca/e...cle-thresholds
And yes Tiny, if the DNA said it was you, your swimmers succeeded, unless the real father somehow was able to replace their sample with yours.