I'm glad they're offering these again, but in my experience covid tests have been pretty useless. I'm pretty sure I've had covid twice and despite daily testing I never actually tested positive, and talking to others they've had similar experiences.
0. https://twitter.com/DrEricLevi/status/1477057391212449793
My technique is to actually swab the back of my throat, then as deep in my nose as I can tolerate - I’m usually actually running out of stick on the swab before it’s too deep for me. I figure I want to grab any possible trace of virus if it’s there and I’d far prefer a false positive that disappears a day later than a false negative.
I've usually blown my nose, spun the thing around the suggested distance up my nose, pull it out because I'm about to sneeze, then repeat that process until it has been up both sides for the suggested time. Usually needing to blow my nose out 2-6 times total, with a bell-curve amount of snot coming out across each time. Had it one time, and the first time I did it was the darkest I've ever seen a line on one of those tests.
I wish there were more cheap at home tests like these, for other stuff. The last tests I picked up were 2 for €4 in Lidl. I tried about as many different branded ones as I came across throughout the pandemic. Was neat to see the different approaches they used for packaging/documenting/labelling what amounted to a long swab, some buffer solution, and a tiny test strip.
We use molecular (Lucira) home tests, which are much more sensitive, and even those have given us very inconsistent and confusing results on two separate occasions.
One thing that has helped anecdotally among my family and friends of mine is to do use a throat swab, and first thing in the morning before you eat or drink anything. A number of times, many other tests were negative, but that one was positive.
But if you test negative, it doesn't guarantee it's actually negative -- since there are so many factors that could have led to that negative result (insufficient virus, early in the infection, incorrect swabbing, reagent expired).
This is explicitly stated on the box, so it's not "useless". During the early days of COVID, the antigen test is also a cheaper, faster "statistical" filter since full PCR tests are more expensive and less scalable. It's actually doing what it's meant to do.
The home tests are still useful, if for no other reason than because a lot of people cannot get a test at all, or can't get one unless they have symptoms.
My insurance company is like that. At one point in the last year I'd recently been with someone who tested positive two days later, and while I felt fine, I wanted a test before visiting a highly vulnerable relative and was told the test would be entirely out of pocket since I wasn't feeling sick. People who can't afford a PCR out of pocket can at least try several at home tests for some piece of mind.
All of these tests have a non-zero false positive rate, they're not definitive proof that you have COVID.
It's useful in cases where you know you've been recently exposed to the virus. You can test yourself and avoid becoming an asymptomatic spreader.
If you, feeling fine, test positive for the virus then you know to stay away from everybody. You may be able to get a PCR to confirm at that point, but even if you can't, you can be confident (especially if multiple at home tests come back positive) that you're infected and act accordingly. You can contact your doctor, you can watch yourself closely for developing symptoms, you can isolate.
If you test negative after repeated tests in that situation, it's still not super comforting because false negatives are so high, but if you can't get a proper test due to your lack of symptoms the at home tests are the best indication that you've dogged a bullet that you're going to get. Maybe be careful to mask up when you go out just to be safe, but at that point you can be somewhat sure (as sure you can be) that you aren't going to get everyone around you infected.
That's pretty far from ideal. Ideally, anyone could just get a free PCR test, but it's way better than nothing and nowhere near useless.
I agree through, if you have symptoms it's best to assume the worst even if the home test is negative and see a doctor for a PCR in case it is covid or for a diagnosis and treatment in the event that it isn't.
I live in the Netherlands, and during the height of the COVID scare here and in the EU you needed e.g. a negative test taken days before every flight, before attending a concert etc.
So even if the false positive rate was say 0.05% that's for each individual test.
But that quickly adds up. I think I did on the order of 50 tests during COVID.
If your spouse needs the same that's a 0.05 * 50 * 2 = 5% chance that one test during that period was a false positive.
Which could be a relatively life-changing event, e.g. the difference between a nice holiday, and being locked up in a quarantine hotel for weeks on arrival.
There were other ways those relatively small false positive numbers could cascade upwards, e.g. policies recommending that if anyone you've recently met had COVID, you should also quarantine.
Best one was the day my wife was diagnosed just before a minor surgical procedure. That day we went and received 15-minute PCR tests (the kind you'd get if you were traveling): I was negative and she was confirmed as positive. I can only assume I had it at one point and still had "natural" immunity. (We were both previously vaccinated, and her COVID case was very mild)
[0] https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.19.22282525v...
I’ve never tested positive, despite having been repeatedly tested (at home and PCR), due to the nature of my situation. I do believe, though, that I have probably had it, even if the tests never showed it, because how could I not have?
Back in 2020, the US Navy published a study that told us everything we needed to know about covid: They found that over 90% of sailors who tested positive were asymptomatic. With only 1% testing positive in random checks, a mere 10% of those showed ANY symptoms and none had any major complications.
It's clear now that the mass hysteria was baseless. We had the facts, but it seems some people just wanted a reason to freak out for a couple years.
1. [Source](https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/11/11/heal...)
I think at the end of the day these aren't going to be perfect but if you combine it with a personal evaluation (do I feel sick, are people that were near me sick) it gives you better decision making than just playing dumb.