Are holiday gatherings made safer by COVID-19 at-home tests?
Yes. Home test kits for COVID-19, when combined with vaccinations, can provide additional safety and reassurance.
Dr. Emily Volk, President of the College of American Pathologists says that they will use rapid tests to verify everyone before we get together. She is also planning a holiday dinner with six of her vaccinated relatives. “We’ll be doing this as they enter the room.”
Volk states that home kits aren’t as accurate as PCR tests performed in hospitals or at testing sites. They do however have the advantage of delivering results in minutes, not days.
You can buy testing kits at your local drugstore without a prescription. A box with two tests usually costs around $25. Instructions, swabs and testing solution are all included.
Teens and adults can also test their own abilities. A child can be tested by an adult as young as 2. Videos on product websites that show how to do things can be very helpful.
The majority of tests require you to swab about half an inch between your nostrils. It may be a bit painful but it doesn’t hurt. If the test finds a virus protein in your sample, you will receive a positive result.
Some infections can be missed by home tests and, in rare cases, they may mistakenly indicate infection. A popular test that misses about 15 of 100 infections is called “false positives”. It gives false positive results in approximately 1 in 100 people who aren’t infected.
Despite widespread reports of test shortages during the COVID-19 surge in the 1990s, new options have been available and major manufacturers like Abbott Laboratories have increased their production.
Other tips from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are available at. The best way to protect yourself against the coronavirus is vaccination.
