COVID rapid tests are hard to find. They're selling for
triple the retail price in some places. Now. Some
experts say they might not be reliable. Take a look at
these headlines here across the country. Reports of
false negatives are on the rise, especially in the
early stages of omicron infections. Test sensit
may be the problem. And the FDA is aware. The agency
said last week it's looking into rapid tests return
a false negative with omicron Compared to other
variants and a recent study raises more doubts about
accuracy. In the early days of the infection, the
us-based study was small, looke at about 30 people in
five different workplaces in New York and California.
All of them tested positive for COVID-19 on a PCR on
the same day but it took about two days for the rapid
test to pick it up. Rapid tests are rapidly causing
some concerns, some questions. So let's get to the
bottom of it tonight. Let's bring in Dr Rachel Liesman,
she's the director of microbiology in pathology and
laboratory medicine at the University of Kansas Medical
Center Dr. Liesman, good to see you tonight. First of
all, do these rapid tests work or do they not work Um
That is a great question and I think the data continues
to evolve but unfortunately in the wrong direction um
there was some hints about a week ago that they may not
be performing as effectively as they did with our
previous variants and some really recent data shows
that patients can be symptomatic and falsely negativ
on these rapid tests for the first two, 2 3 days of
their symptom onset when they would be positive by PCR.
So they seem to be not performing as well as we would
have hoped. First up to three days. And isn't that the
height of being contagious They say the two days before
the onset of symptoms and the 2-3 days after. Yeah
we're definitely still learning about omicron and um
how it transmits. But I think that the data very
strongly indicates that the antigen test would be
missing somebody who is potentially contagious. I have
been one of the people standing at my local library
waiting for the test. You got to show your I.D. You get
them at home and you think I'm gonna have this just in
case if I get the sniffles. If I'm worried I don't want
to infect anybody else. Mhm. Should we still be doing
that Well I think that a positive result gives you a
lot of information and so there's value in taking it
and um getting a quick positive. Especially if y
having delays in pcr testing availability in your
region. I think the challenge is that the negative
result has become less trustworthy. Especially in that
first day or two of symptoms. So we want to be very
careful in interpreting that negative when you're
symptomatic the new york times had this and I know
you've been inundated with this question. But I gotta
ask you people who tested negative with a nasal swab
are sometimes testing positive when they swab their
throat, it's not recommended, it's not on the
directions there. But people ha tried it and they say
it actually comes back positive if I'm sick and I'm
negative, should I just try my throat Most of these
boxes come with two tests Um It's a good question. I
think that if you only have those two tests um it would
be smarter to save that and to test yourself following
the directions of the test the next day or three days
after symptoms. Um And given that there aren't a lot of
availability of the antigen test, I think um sticking
to the directions of the test continuing to isolate
when you're symptomatic and um potentially taking that
nasal swab the next day or the day after is a better
use of that test. Given the limitations when the
pandemic started and you'll remember this better than
anyone. The government kind of let companies put out a
ton of rapid test. They were thinking, let's get these
out to the market. Let's let people use the tools that
are there Many were completely worthless trusting t
plummeted things have been tightened up. Do you think
we need to tighten them up further when it comes to
rapid test. I think continuous evaluation of these
tests in real world type of studies as we get new
variants is going to be important and if the tests
aren't performing up to muster, I think um that we need
to let people know about that and potentially pull them
off the shelves. So I I think that we just need to
continue to perform those studies and to gather that
data and evaluate every day. And and that's what the
government is doing right now. That is what researchers
and those of us in in clinical diagnostics are act
trying to do Dr Rachel Eastman, thank you for letting
us to ask you all these questions. I know we're p
you away from things like labs that have people asking,
you know, do I have covid right now And so this is
really valuable. We appreciate it. Thank you.
Absolutely. Thank you for having me take care.