Can At-Home Tests Detect Omicron Early Enough? Study Raises Doubt
In the small study, a group of people who tested positive for covid via a PCR test, tested negative with rapid antigen tests — ones most commonly used at home. The lag could lead to people unknowingly exposing others to the virus.
Stat:
Study Casts Doubts On Rapid Covid Tests' Reliability Right After Infection
A new study raises significant doubts about whether at-home rapid antigen tests can detect the Omicron variant before infected people can transmit the virus to others. The study looks at 30 people from settings including Broadway theaters and offices in New York and San Francisco where some workers were not only being tested daily but were, because of rules at their workplaces, receiving both the antigen tests and a daily test that used the polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, which is believed to be more reliable. On days 0 and 1 following a positive PCR test, all of the antigen tests used produced false-negative results, even though in 28 of the 30 cases, levels of virus detected by the PCR test were high enough to infect other people. In four cases, researchers were able to confirm that infected people transmitted the virus to others during the period before they had a positive result on the rapid antigen test. (Herper, 1/5)
The New York Times:
Emerging Data Raise Questions About Antigen Tests And Nasal Swabs
A small, new real-world study suggests that two widely used at-home antigen tests, the Abbott BinaxNOW and Quidel QuickVue, may fail to detect some Omicron infections even when people are carrying high levels of the coronavirus. The study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, focused on 30 people infected with the virus at five workplaces that experienced what were most likely outbreaks of the Omicron variant in December. The people received both saliva-based P.C.R. tests and rapid antigen tests using nasal swabs. (Anthes and Jewett, 1/5)
In other news about covid testing —
Bloomberg:
Scarce At-Home Covid Tests Leave Some Consumers Paying $40 A Pop
High prices for at-home Covid-19 tests are hitting the wallets of U.S. families who need them to get back to school and work — if they can find any to buy at all. One restaurant worker in New York said she paid an acquaintance double the retail price in a sidewalk exchange for a test kit. A mom in Missouri said she’s rationing her last two-pack for if her kids show serious symptoms. Another parent is keeping her daughter home from school, where tests are required before returning after the holiday, until an in-person appointment later this week because the $80 price tag she saw in online community groups was too steep. (Butler, 1/5)
AP:
Washington State Orders 5.5 Million At-Home Tests For Public
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said Wednesday the state has ordered 5.5 million at-home tests to distribute to the public and will improve booster vaccine access and supply about 10 million free protective masks amid a steep increase in COVID-19 cases due to the more contagious omicron variant. “We are seeing more Covid cases now than at any point during the entire pandemic,” Inslee said. “Now is the time to redouble our efforts against this virus.” (La Corte, 1/6)
Chicago Tribune:
At Chicago's Pop-Up COVID Testing Centers, Complaints Include Poor Masking, Long Waits For Results
When Aaron McManus went to the Northshore Clinical Labs’ COVID testing site in Forest Park on Christmas Eve, the scene that greeted him struck him as “surreal.” Employees wore mismatched cloth masks that appeared to have been brought from home, and 6-foot social distancing was not maintained, he said. When McManus was tested, another customer was about 3 or 4 feet away, and both were unmasked for testing. At one point, an employee standing about 2 feet from an unmasked customer removed her own mask to demonstrate how to take a specimen. (Schoenberg and Schencker, 1/5)
The Texas Tribune:
COVID-19 Testing Shortages Push Texans To Hospitals, Call 911
When San Antonio residents struggle to get their hands on COVID-19 test, some show up to the emergency room for a diagnosis. Dr. Ralph Riviello, the chair of emergency medicine at University Hospital, said the number of people who arrive seeking a test has grown so much lately that the emergency room now has a nurse provider designated to screen and evaluate patients with COVID-like symptoms. The hospital staff helps whoever arrives, but Riviello said the health care system does not have the bandwidth to serve as a walk-in COVID-19 testing center. (Dey, 1/5)
WUSF Public Media:
DeSantis Says He's Not Waiting On Feds, Plans To Make More At-Home Tests Available
Saying that the “federal government is not going to come through” on a plan to distribute at-home coronavirus tests, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday said the state is honing its own strategy to send tests to vulnerable Floridians. DeSantis has made testing for COVID-19 the latest front in his clashes with President Joe Biden’s administration, after the White House last month announced a plan to distribute 500 million at-home coronavirus tests throughout the country. Distribution of the tests has not been launched yet. During a press conference in Jacksonville on Tuesday, DeSantis said the state isn’t waiting. (Dailey, 1/5)
