(NEXSTAR) — With respiratory illnesses surging across the country, there's a good chance you're feeling sick at the start of the new year.
Maybe you're experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 and are being urged to take one or two of the tests available for free from the federal government in 2023. It is also possible that the test result is negative.
While there are relatively obvious reasons for a negative test (more on this later), there is another, less obvious possibility that you may have overlooked.
You may remember hearing that some of the coronavirus tests shipped by the government in October were already past their printed expiration dates. Some of these tests had an expiration date of February 2023, giving him a full eight months to arrive in his mailbox.
However, the Food and Drug Administration said the test was not actually expired, noting that it had expired. The expiration date has been extended more than a dozen times. New coronavirus test kit that can be used at home. As such, the aforementioned kit, which was originally scheduled to expire in February 2023, was instead listed as valid until February 2024.
As you might expect, a coronavirus test is no longer considered valid beyond its extended expiry date. This means that if your test result is negative, your test result may be outdated. F.D.A. was forewarned It says expired coronavirus tests should not be used because their components can “degrade or fail over time” and give “inaccurate or invalid test results.”
Tests stocked in bathroom cabinets include tests with extended expiration dates, such as the iHealth COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test and BinaxNOW. For iHealth kits with expiration dates printed from February 2023 to September 2023, The extended date has passed. BinaxNOW kits with a date prior to June 2023 are Extended expiration date has passed.
A complete list of coronavirus tests with extended expiration dates can be found here: FDA website.
Even if your test kit has not expired, if your test result is negative, you may have another respiratory illness.
“If you have symptoms and test negative for COVID-19, the most likely reason is usually something other than COVID-19,” said Dr. Andrew Pekos, a virologist and professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Medicine. “It's that they're infected,” he said. Department of Public Health during a media briefing.
After all, two other respiratory viruses, influenza and RSV, are beginning to circulate at high levels in many states, and all three diseases exhibit overlapping symptoms.
But Pekosz went on to say that a negative test doesn't make much of a difference as long as you take the next step.
“If you're feeling unwell, it really shouldn't make any difference whether you test positive for COVID-19, influenza, or respiratory syncytial virus,” he says. “If you are feeling unwell, please stay home and take care of yourself. If you are in a high-risk group, please see your doctor for advice on what to do. If you are on a similar spectrum There are many viruses that cause illness, so if you feel sick, you're sick.”
The CDC also notes that a negative coronavirus test does not completely mean you are not infected. Even if the virus is not detected, it may still be present, albeit in trace amounts. The CDC went on to say that there may be other illnesses for which you should be tested, and that you should consult your health care provider if you have questions about your test results or symptoms.
Jeremy Tanner contributed to this report.
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