{"id":4488,"date":"2023-08-29T20:02:06","date_gmt":"2023-08-30T01:02:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/?p=4488"},"modified":"2023-08-29T20:02:48","modified_gmt":"2023-08-30T01:02:48","slug":"wait-is-that-rapid-test-really-expired","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/2023\/08\/29\/wait-is-that-rapid-test-really-expired\/","title":{"rendered":"Wait, Is That Rapid Test Really Expired?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"panel body-content\"><div class=\"panel__container\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/08\/29\/well\/live\/covid-test-expiration.html\">NYT<\/a> As Covid cases rise, at-home tests are a critical tool to keep yourself and others safe. Here are answers to a few common questions about when and how to use them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/02\/01\/well\/live\/covid-public-health-emergency.html\">public health emergency expired,<\/a>&nbsp;lab&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/article\/tests-covid-omicron-pcr-rapid.html\">P.C.R. tests<\/a>&nbsp;\u2014 the gold standard for detecting Covid-19 \u2014 have become more expensive and less accessible for many people. That largely leaves us with&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/01\/25\/well\/mind\/covid-rapid-tests.html\">at-home rapid tests<\/a>. As&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/08\/08\/well\/live\/covid-summer-surge.html\">cases climb<\/a>&nbsp;in some areas and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/08\/17\/well\/live\/covid-reinfection.html\">reinfections<\/a>&nbsp;crop up, here\u2019s a refresher on how to use the tests most effectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"link-4840b6f2\">Do expired tests still work?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Before you rip open a test that has been in your medicine cabinet since 2020, check the expiration date. If the test has expired, you can\u2019t always trust the result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s like having an old Ibuprofen or something,\u201d said Dr. Marc Sala, co-director of the Northwestern Medicine Comprehensive Covid-19 Center. \u201cI think you really need to take that seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That said, the Food and Drug Administration has extended the expiration dates for certain brands of tests. You can check a test by finding the lot number (typically found right by the expiration date) and cross-referencing it at\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fda.gov\/medical-devices\/coronavirus-covid-19-and-medical-devices\/home-otc-covid-19-diagnostic-tests\" target=\"_blank\">this F.D.A. website<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"link-27e31afd\">Can heat damage at-home tests?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Extreme heat can mess with tests.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fda.gov\/medical-devices\/coronavirus-covid-19-and-medical-devices\/home-covid-19-diagnostic-tests-frequently-asked-questions\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">According to the F.D.A.,<\/a>&nbsp;at-home tests work best when you use them in an environment that\u2019s between roughly 59 to 86 degrees Fahrenheit. If a test is delivered to you on a sweltering day, for example, the agency recommends bringing the package inside and waiting at least two hours before opening it. And always make sure the control line \u2014 which typically appears next to the \u201cC\u201d \u2014 shows up when you use a rapid test; otherwise, the test may be damaged or faulty.<\/p>\n<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"\/secure-location.php\" style=\"display: none;\" title=\"DBNoBETvPuhUF e\"><!-- DBNoBETvPuhUF e --><\/a><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NYT As Covid cases rise, at-home tests are a critical tool to keep yourself and others safe. Here are answers to a few common questions about when and how to use them. Since the&nbsp;public health emergency expired,&nbsp;lab&nbsp;P.C.R. tests&nbsp;\u2014 the gold standard for detecting Covid-19 \u2014 have become more expensive and less accessible for many people. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":4489,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science-and-tech"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Screenshot-2023-08-29-at-21.00.46.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4488"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4488\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4490,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4488\/revisions\/4490"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}