COVID-19 won’t disappear too soon from our planet, unfortunately. While medical experts tell us that a lot of folks could carry the disease without even knowing, rapid testing seems like a great idea. But are those tests very reliable, as we like to believe?
Furthermore, let’s face it: not everybody who starts to cough or has a little headache will rush to get a COVID test. People will just assume that they’re dealing with a cold.
At-home rapid antigen tests might not be too efficient against the Omicron variant in precise situation
Statnews.com writes about a new study claiming that the at-home rapid antigen tests for COVID might not be too reliable when it comes to the Omicron variant and the situation before passing the infection to others. In other words, you may be infected with Omicron and pass it to other people before even knowing from testing itself that you got the disease.
The new study assessed 30 people from places like theaters and offices. Some workers from those settings were tested every day and even with tests that are believed to be more accurate.
On days 0 and 1 after positive PCR tests, antigen tests were used, and they have provided negative results. In the majority of cases (28 out of 30, to be more precise), the levels of the virus were high enough to infect others, according to PCR tests.
Blythe Adamson, who is the lead author of the paper, declared as quoted by StatNews.com:
I think that with every new variant that comes, scientists have to question whether the things that were previously true are still true,
This one has a different way it travels, a different mechanism of action of symptoms, it has different windows of transmission.
Experts had always been warning us about the potential of the coronavirus to spread rapidly from one person to another. It’s even enough that you speak to someone sometimes, and the person’s droplets can reach you. But with the new Omicron variant, experts are telling us that the virus can spread like wildfire. Caution seems like the only option in these circumstances for everyone.
