At-home rapid antigen tests have become essential to navigating the pandemic, especially during the omicron surge.
But there has been more confusion in recent months as there are more and more brands to choose from, and omicron shows up differently on the tests.
And a lot of that confusion can be cut down if people simply follow the instructions provided with each test.
"This is not rocket science," said Dr. Wilbur Lam, Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Emory University and in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology, on KCBS Radio's "Ask an Expert" with Holly Quan and Eric Thomas on Tuesday.
"If you don’t follow the instructions well, it doesn't matter how good the test is, you don’t have a good enough sample," he said.
For rapid tests, the likelihood of a false positive coming up is relatively low, said Lam. If a person uses the test and has a positive result, it's safe to assume that it's accurate.
People should then call a doctor and healthcare provider to get additional advice on how to handle the situation, he said.
What is more likely to happen is that a test that comes back negative, does not necessarily mean the person is negative for COVID-19. This is especially likely if a person tests themselves early in the infection stage, on day one or two.
People should invest in more than one test, so they can check after a few days, said Lam.
"At the heart of all this is that no test is perfect," he said. "There will always be a certain level of false negatives and a certain level of false positives."
The best time to test is for the second or third day after symptoms begin to present themselves, said Lam. "It's a broad range, every test is a little bit different."
Looking ahead, some companies are working to combine the flu and COVID-19 into the same test or at least the same kit. The FDA is currently reviewing a couple of these types of tests for authorization, he said.
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