![]() Rapid antigen tests often have only a mediocre reputation among clinical laboratorians because they are not as accurate as PCR tests. Rapid Tests as Part of a Serial Testing Strategy This is quite a bit lower than the still not-so-great numbers for PCR: Only 35% have high trust in the results of PCR tests conducted by healthcare workers outside of the home. At the same time, only 9% place “a great deal of trust” in at-home rapid antigen tests. In an Economist/YouGov poll conducted in January 2022, more than 55% said they would be ordering free tests provided by the government. They don’t have much confidence in the result, but nevertheless want to stock up. New data show that Americans have mixed feelings about rapid tests. “Rapid antigen tests become a much more effective test when we really step back and say, ‘what’s our goal here?’” “Speed is absolutely crucial when your goal is to do something quickly that improves the effectiveness of a treatment strategy, even if accuracy is a little bit lower,” said Michael Mina, MD, PhD, chief science officer of eMed and former Harvard epidemiologist. They found that of those who used tests, 39.4% did so because of a recent exposure to the virus and 28.9% did because of COVID-19-like symptoms. According to a March 2022 Morbidity and Mortality Report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at-home test use among respondents with self-reported COVID-19-like symptoms increased from the time of delta (5.7%) to omicron (20.1%). ![]() However, their popularity-and availability-continues to grow, especially during variant surges. They are not as accurate as molecular PCR tests. Rapid antigen tests for SARS-CoV-2 are cheap, fast, and easy to distribute.
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