COVID testing, generally, takes a while to complete. From sample collection to receiving the report, the process can take up to 24 hours in most cases. The arrival of home COVID testing kits has raised a question: why schedule a rapid covid test when you can do it at home? Let’s look at some of the pros and cons of home COVID testing.
At-home COVID antigen tests are fast and accessible. Instead of waiting for an appointment, ordering a mail-in kit, shipping a sample for testing, and waiting for the results of a molecular diagnostic test, an at-home antigen test can get you results in as quickly as 15 minutes. This test is easy to conduct, and you can check the results manually just as you would with a home pregnancy test.
COVID antigen tests as not as sensitive as molecular diagnostics. Unlike molecular diagnostic tests that require amplification of viral nucleic acids to be easily detected, antigen tests can detect unamplified traces of the virus and, therefore, do not gather signals very easily.
Though there is still a risk of false negatives or positives associated with the home antigen test, the most preferred test such as PCR can also have issues with accuracy when testing for COVID. Results of a COVID test depend on a number of factors such as the timing of the test. Collecting a sample quickly after exposure does not guarantee accurate results even if you have the virus in your body. PCR tests can also be positive even when you are no longer infectious.
Compared with molecular diagnostics for COVID-19, antigen tests are “not as sensitive if we’re looking to understand is there any even minute piece of virus present,” clinical epidemiologist Rock said, “but they are very sensitive if we’re looking to see is there a level of the virus that we have to be concerned that somebody could transmit to someone else.”
