Rapid antigen testing is now available at our office. Please call today to schedule an appointment! Rapid antigen tests are important tool in our fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and tell you about your infectiousness and likelihood of transmission to others. They offer quick and fairly accurate results. If you receive a positive result, you very likely have COVID-19. False positives with rapid tests are very unlikely. If you receive a negative result on your COVID-19 rapid test, there is still a possibility that you’ve been infected, but a negative result suggests that your viral load might not be high enough for the test to detect the virus and transmit to others. This is why you should test yourself the day of gathering with others, to ensure that you have the most recent, most accurate reflection of infectious status. While these tests aren’t 100% accurate, a negative result strongly suggests that you’re not contagious at that particular time. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends testing either when symptoms develop or, if you aren’t showing symptoms, five to seven days after exposure. Author Mahesh S. Ochaney, MD
