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It appears that omicron almost always returns false negatives with the rapid antigen tests for mild cases. Since omicron is the vast majority of cases in the w

It appears that omicron almost always returns false negatives with the rapid antigen tests for mild cases. Since omicron is the vast majority of cases in the wild, and nearly all cases are mild (and the ones that aren't are probably going to get a PCR test anyway), rapid tests are practically next to useless now.

shepherdjerred 5y ago
According to early data, sure, but Omicron is still too new for any real studies to have been completed. An at home test is better than nothing.
- djrogers 5y ago
  > An at home test is better than nothing. Is it? If there's a significant false negative rate, that will mislead people who may otherwise isolate/quarantine based on symptoms. If I feel kinda sick but test negative and need milk, I'm probably going to the store. Same with taking flight that I can't afford to reschedule, or a Dr. office visit, etc etc.
adrianmonk 5y ago
A valid point to raise, but things may not be that bad. The Washington Post has an article (https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/01/17/rapid-coronavirus-tests-accuracy-omicron/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/01/17/rapid-coron...) about this. Three key points from the article: (1) Rapid tests probably do have a harder time detecting omicron. (2) Two new rapid tests (from Roche, Siemens), granted EUA in December, "happen" to work "really well" against omicron. (3) Some of the tests the government will distribute are Roche tests. Another recent article (https://www.medtechdive.com/news/biden-administration-buy-500m-more-covid-tests/617183/ https://www.medtechdive.com/news/biden-administration-buy-50...) says the government has contracted with Abbott, iHealth, and Roche for its first 380 million test kits. So in that first 380 million, 1 out of 3 is already good for omicron. Hopefully as they work toward more contracts for the remainder of the 1 billion tests, the government will try to take omicron into account.
- flutas 5y ago
  I just want to point out this is a false assumption. > So in that first 380 million, 1 out of 3 is already good for omicron. The text says those 3 companies have been contracted for a combined 380 million tests. It doesn't say equally, or list a number for them. You could have a worst case scenario (I'm being overly dramatic here) of 1 test from Roche, and 379,999,999 combined tests from Abbott and iHealth.
  - adrianmonk 5y ago
    OK, fair point that I could have phrased that better. I meant 1 out of 3 types of tests present in the first batch, not 1 out of every 3.
k8sToGo 5y ago
All my 4 rapid tests were positive. I started testing when I had symptoms.
bobbylarrybobby 5y ago
A comment above says that omicron is hard for rapid tests to detect from nasal fluids and that swabbing one's throat leads to much more reliable tests.

shepherdjerred 5y ago

According to early data, sure, but Omicron is still too new for any real studies to have been completed. An at home test is better than nothing.

djrogers 5y ago
> An at home test is better than nothing. Is it? If there's a significant false negative rate, that will mislead people who may otherwise isolate/quarantine based on symptoms. If I feel kinda sick but test negative and need milk, I'm probably going to the store. Same with taking flight that I can't afford to reschedule, or a Dr. office visit, etc etc.

adrianmonk 5y ago

A valid point to raise, but things may not be that bad. The Washington Post has an article (https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/01/17/rapid-coronavirus-tests-accuracy-omicron/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/01/17/rapid-coron...) about this. Three key points from the article: (1) Rapid tests probably do have a harder time detecting omicron. (2) Two new rapid tests (from Roche, Siemens), granted EUA in December, "happen" to work "really well" against omicron. (3) Some of the tests the government will distribute are Roche tests. Another recent article (https://www.medtechdive.com/news/biden-administration-buy-500m-more-covid-tests/617183/ https://www.medtechdive.com/news/biden-administration-buy-50...) says the government has contracted with Abbott, iHealth, and Roche for its first 380 million test kits. So in that first 380 million, 1 out of 3 is already good for omicron. Hopefully as they work toward more contracts for the remainder of the 1 billion tests, the government will try to take omicron into account.

flutas 5y ago
I just want to point out this is a false assumption. > So in that first 380 million, 1 out of 3 is already good for omicron. The text says those 3 companies have been contracted for a combined 380 million tests. It doesn't say equally, or list a number for them. You could have a worst case scenario (I'm being overly dramatic here) of 1 test from Roche, and 379,999,999 combined tests from Abbott and iHealth.
- adrianmonk 5y ago
  OK, fair point that I could have phrased that better. I meant 1 out of 3 types of tests present in the first batch, not 1 out of every 3.

k8sToGo 5y ago

All my 4 rapid tests were positive. I started testing when I had symptoms.

bobbylarrybobby 5y ago

A comment above says that omicron is hard for rapid tests to detect from nasal fluids and that swabbing one's throat leads to much more reliable tests.