Is it time for a reality check on rapid COVID tests?

[Nevilledog]

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/01/19/1149672577/is-it-time-for-a-reality-check-on-rapid-covid-tests


As the COVID-19 pandemic enters its fourth year, a negative result on a little plastic at-home test feels a bit less comforting than it once did.

Still, you dutifully swab your nostrils before dinner parties, wait 15 minutes for the all-clear and then text the host "negative!" before leaving your KN95 mask at home.

It feels like the right thing to do, right?

The virus has mutated and then mutated again, with the tests offering at least some sense of control as the Greek letters pile up. But some experts caution against putting too much faith in a negative result.

So it's only fitting to do a reality check on what those rapid COVID-19 tests, also called antigen tests, can do — and what they can't.

*snip*

[liberalmuse]

1. I know too many people who got negative results on the home test.

But positive on the PCR test. They don't work most of the time.

[tinrobot]

3. The early ones didn't work so well, the newer ones are better

The Binax ones are pretty good. They have a better way of immersing the sample in the solution.

https://www.riteaid.com/shop/binaxnow-covid-19-antigen-self-tests-2-ct

[Shermann]

2. It's more difficult to accurately test three years into the pandemic than it was two years ago

This explosion of variants has proven to be unmanageable that way.

[Tree-Hugger]

4. False sense of security

I know people who have been symptomatic, but they take a hone test and their boss is like, "great! It's negative. You can come to work."

My husband likely had covid in April 2020. He ended up in the ER and they tested him. Back then, it was the test that went super far up your nose and took a few days for results. The doc called three days later and said the test was negative. Then he said, "assume that is a false negative and treat him like he is still contagious for the next few days." So, we did. Thankfully, he got better eventually and no one in the house became ill.

[onecaliberal]

5. You would need to home test 3 days before your event with a negative result and then again the day

Of your event. I test twice a week with the home test. They have proven very effective at my office.