During the pandemic, everyone tried to stay calm as much as possible. To mitigate the risks of spreading the virus, at-home Covid-19 tests became a pre-requisite for any individual who wants to travel.
With that, people prompted a faster response, such as being tested if symptoms are detected or visible. In addition, while waiting for the arrival of the Covid-19 test result, individuals who get tested isolate themselves immediately to reduce the risk of spread. Unless you get a negative result, you must remain where you are.
Now that more people are seeking a faster way to know whether they are infected or not, at-home Covid-19 rapid antigen testing kits have become more popular. Aside from delivering more immediate results, you don’t have to visit a testing centre anymore when using these kits.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized Covid home test kits for self-testing at home. The good thing about home PCR tests and rapid tests is they can be bought online or at a nearby local market that offers retail kits.
Which at-home Covid Test Should You Use?
To help you with what Covid home test kit you should use, below are the two types of them.
- At-home rapid test – Less accurate but can provide speedy results and help you in deciding whether to get further treatment.
- At-home PCR test – More accurate; however, it can take days to know the results since you need to collect the sample and mail it out to the laboratory for testing. But there are cases where you can still get the results after 24 hours or less, so you can still choose this if you want a more precise result.
Conclusion
When using rapid test kits, people need to keep in mind that they tend to produce false-negative results and miss asymptomatic infection, which means that they aren’t precise. Either taking a PCR confirmatory test or only using a PCR test is more ideal because they produce more accurate results than the quick results from a rapid test.
To know more details about the reliability of at-home Covid-19 tests, see this infographic from Harley Medic International.
