FILE - Boxes of BinaxNow home COVID-19 tests made by Abbott displayed for sale next to liquid hand soap at a CVS store in Lakewood, Wash., Monday, Nov. 15, 2021. People screening themselves at home for COVID-19 may need to use three rapid tests to accurately detect the virus, according to new U.S. recommendations released Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, that call for a longer testing period. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File) (Ted S. Warren, Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
The Food and Drug Administration now recommends that people who have been exposed to the coronavirus should have three negative at-home tests, even if they don’t have symptoms.
The FDA made the change Thursday based on evidence that people with an omicron infection — but who are asymptomatic — need multiple negative rapid antigen tests over a number of days to be sure they don’t have Covid. Rapid at-home tests are more likely to give a false negative result in asymptomatic cases.
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“If repeat testing is not performed after a negative result, an infection may be missed and people may unknowingly spread the SARS-CoV-2 virus to others, especially if they are not experiencing symptoms,” the FDA tweeted.
