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Health officials are increasingly emphasizing the importance of rapid at-dwelling testing every bit a manner to help dull the spread of COVID-nineteen, especially with the highly contagious omicron variant driving upwards new cases to record-breaking numbers.

These over-the-counter tests, which commencement showed up on drugstore shelves in the spring of 2021, require a quick swab of the nose and deliver results in about 15 minutes. And soon their price tag could drop from about $20 a box to null, as the federal government moves to distribute some by mail and take private insurance companies reimburse the price of purchased kits for people on their health plans.

How reliable are these tests? And when should you consider taking ane? Tiptop experts respond common questions and offering helpful tips for taking a COVID examination at home.

How practise rapid home tests work?

Like to many COVID tests administered at dr.'south offices and testing sites, an at-home version can determine whether you're infected with the coronavirus by fashion of a sample swabbed from your nose. These tests, called antigen tests, work by looking for the presence of specific proteins associated with the coronavirus. If they are detected, a positive result appears on a exam strip in a matter of minutes, much like a habitation pregnancy test.

"And that's helpful considering that then allows you to make individualized decisions about how you keep yourself away from other folks, how yous get your medical intendance and how you lot stop transmission cycles with your behavior," Cameron Wolfe, Thou.D., an infectious disease specialist at Duke Health and an acquaintance professor at the Duke Academy School of Medicine, explained in a recent briefing.

When should you take an calm test?

Even if yous're fully vaccinated, it makes sense to pull out an at-home test if y'all're having symptoms of COVID-19 or have been exposed to the illness, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It's besides recommended to cocky-swab earlier gathering indoors with others — whether that'south dinner with a small grouping of friends, a holiday get-together with family or a big event, such as a concert.

"The way that I would recommend using rapid antigen tests is really as a screening method," Stephen Kissler, a research swain in the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at the Harvard T.H. Chan Schoolhouse of Public Health, told reporters on Dec. 7.

Information technology can have days to get results dorsum from the standard PCR tests (short for polymerase chain reaction) y'all go at many doctor's offices and testing sites. "And by the time you become the exam back, oftentimes the effect that it gives you is no longer very meaningful," Kissler says, considering it's possible you got infected during the waiting window.

A rapid test done from the convenience of dwelling, however, provides "immediate, actionable results," says Gigi Gronvall, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Middle for Wellness Security and an acquaintance professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Wellness. "If you exam positive, don't be around other people, because you lot've got infectious virus in your nose. And so it's a practiced public health tool for making sure that people who are potentially contagious stay to themselves."

The key is taking the test every bit close to your plans every bit possible — aim for the same day, explained Matthew Binnicker, director of clinical virology at the Mayo Dispensary, in a recent briefing. "That's going to give y'all the best information [on] whether someone has high amounts of the virus in their arrangement at that time."

The types of COVID tests

PCR test: A type of molecular test that looks for an agile coronavirus infection by detecting genetic material from the virus. A sample is usually obtained by a olfactory organ swab, although a throat swab or saliva sample volition also practise the trick. Y'all tin become these tests at a doctor's office or testing site. Because these tests are analyzed in a laboratory, information technology can take a day or more to get results dorsum. These tests are considered the most authentic available.

Rapid test: Likewise known equally an antigen examination, this blazon of test looks for pieces of protein from the coronavirus, usually by way of a nasal swab. Rapid tests — which can be administered in a doc's office, a pharmacy or at home — deliver results much faster (almost 15 minutes) than PCR tests, since they don't demand to be analyzed at a laboratory. The tests are considered accurate when at that place is a large amount of virus in the body but may miss an early on infection.

Antibody examination: This type of test tin assist make up one's mind if you've already had COVID-19; it does not identify a electric current infection. Using a blood sample, the examination looks for antibodies produced by your immune system to fight off an infection. Fully vaccinated? Only know that COVID-19 vaccination may cause a positive outcome for some just not all antibody tests, the FDA says.

Source: Yale Medicine/FDA

Which dwelling test is best?

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized several over-the-counter home testing kits, and a scattering are already available at pharmacies and major retailers, although surging demand may make them hard to rail down in some areas.

That's why the best test is actually "the one yous can find on the shelves at your local store," Kissler says, calculation that nigh of the tests "have pretty comparable sensitivity and specificity for detecting SARS-CoV-ii," which is the official proper noun of the virus that causes COVID-19.

If you are purchasing your test online from an unfamiliar retailer, be sure to confirm that the production has emergency use authorization from the FDA, since the agency has seen fraudulent test kits existence sold on the internet. This should be conspicuously marked on the box. You tin can also double-check the FDA'southward website for a list of authorized COVID tests.

Another tip: Cheque the label for how long the results take; that could brand or break your conclusion to get with i brand over another.

"I tend to like the tests that give me the results sooner, considering ofttimes if I'grand using a rapid test, it'due south because I'm on my way somewhere and I want to know whether or not I've got the virus," Kissler says. "And then a exam that gives me a return in 10 or fifteen minutes is a little bit more convenient for me than a examination that takes an hr."

Ease of use is another factor to consider when selecting a test. Some kits require weaving a long swab through a card-shaped reader; others call for dunking a test strip in a vial of solution. "It'southward sort of a matter of personal preference," Kissler notes.

How accurate areast COVID domicile test results?

It's truthful that PCR tests are more sensitive than antigen tests, significant you're less likely to receive a false negative if you go that route. But antigen tests "are very accurate when you are most infectious," Gronvall says. "They're actually equivalent to PCR for that time period when yous are most dangerous to others." A contempo study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine found that the coronavirus was accurately detected by rapid antigen tests in 87 percent of infirmary patients with symptomatic COVID-nineteen and 71 per centum with asymptomatic cases of the disease. When information technology comes to omicron, the FDA issued a argument in late December that said antigen tests do detect the new variant, "but may have reduced sensitivity."

Tips for taking a COVID exam at dwelling house

Make sure the examination y'all purchased has emergency utilise authorization from the FDA. This should exist clearly marked on the box.
Check the expiration date, as well printed on the box, and brand sure the test has not expired.
Wash your hands and brand certain you lot take a make clean surface on which to perform the test.
Follow the instructions provided by the manufacturer. Johns Hopkins' Gigi Gronvall besides suggests looking to see if the exam maker has a demonstration video online, which tin assistance you become familiar with the process.
If your self-examination is positive, tell a health care provider, who tin help y'all determine adjacent steps. Yous should also stay home and away from other people.
If your exam kit recommends series testing, follow instructions for when to perform the 2nd exam.

Source: CDC

False positives are rare with rapid antigen tests, Gronvall adds. And so if y'all test positive with an at-dwelling house exam, you likely have COVID and should isolate yourself from others. You can ever confirm the diagnosis with a follow-upward PCR exam or another antigen test, since "the accurateness of your issue goes up with multiple tests," Gronvall explains.

If the results are negative, information technology means the test didn't detect the virus, but it doesn't rule out infection completely, the CDC says. It could be that your infection is in the early on stages and you don't have enough virus in your sample for the examination to plow positive. Repeating the test at to the lowest degree 24 hours after will pigment a clearer moving picture. Some home kits come up with two tests for this very reason.

"Of course, [home tests] don't bring the take chances of bringing infection to a gathering down to cipher, simply they do reduce the odds past an awful lot," Kissler says. And call back: A negative test is just a snapshot of your status at that moment in time. "[It] actually doesn't clear you for very long — basically just that day and maybe the side by side day," he adds.

What else should I go along in heed?

Testing, whether information technology's washed at home or in a wellness dispensary, isn't a substitute for other prevention measures, like vaccines, masks and physical distance. Information technology's merely another run a risk-reduction strategy that can help proceed people, especially high-take a chance individuals, safe while the virus continues to circulate at high levels.

Kissler is hopeful there volition be at-home testing options for respiratory illnesses beyond COVID, such equally flu. They could go a "long way" toward keeping schools and workplaces running smoothly, he says. Simply in the meantime, all optics are on the power for fast and convenient testing to curb winter surges by stopping the spread of COVID, especially as people gather in person.

"We know that super-spreader events, where a single infection infects many others, actually drives the spread of this virus hugely. And rapid antigen tests can really reduce the odds of something like that happening," Kissler says.

At-Domicile Tests for Travelers

by Beak Fink

Yous tin can use a rapid antigen test to regain entry into the U.S. after traveling away, but you'll need to do your homework. Not every COVID test sold over the counter is accepted under the federal authorities'southward club. For starters, the tests approved for international travel must "include a telehealth service affiliated with the manufacturer of the test that provides real-time supervision remotely through an audio and video connectedness," co-ordinate to the CDC. This means you'll need a good WiFi connectedness so a designated medical professional person can watch you administer the test and detect the results.

Self-tests deemed acceptable for international travel also must be able to produce approved documentation to share with airline and customs officials and they must exist authorized by the FDA or the relevant national authority where you lot're taking the test. The good news is that several companies accept released FDA-authorized self-tests that meet the CDC'southward re-entry requirements, including Abbott's BinaxNOW dwelling house test with telehealth service ($70 for a two-pack) and Qured's Quidel QuickVue video supervised rapid test ($45).

Traveling without a test? Check with your hotel virtually options. Many international hotels offer canonical and supervised tests for their guests gratuitous of charge — it's almost becoming a standard part of the check-out process. Local clinics and some airports offer CDC- and airline-approved tests too, although costs and availability vary widely. Any your testing plan, make sure to check the latest CDC travel and testing requirements before your trip — you don't desire to be denied access to your return flight with an unapproved test.

Editor's Note: This story, originally published Dec. 8, has been updated to reverberate new information.

Rachel Nania writes about health care and health policy for AARP. Previously she was a reporter and editor for WTOP Radio in Washington, D.C. A recipient of a Gracie Honour and a regional Edward R. Murrow Award, she also participated in a dementia fellowship with the National Printing Foundation.

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