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Get Covid Tested At Home In Minutes

March 13, 2024
Get Covid Tested At Home In Minutes

Covid19 changed the world almost overnight for an incredibly long period of time. While in some countries life is getting back to normal, other countries are still grappling with outbreaks. Wherever you are in the world, catching Covid19 remains a possibility even if you have been vaccinated and boosted.

If you have it, you may just have a few flu-like symptoms or be totally asymptomatic. However, it is still a good idea to try to stem the spread of the virus by isolating and cutting chains of transmissions. In an effort to minimise how much it spreads, and the chances of you infecting loved ones, you can take regular tests to know whether you have the virus or not.

Here, we look at Covid test results at home and what makes the best covid test kit products. In doing so we identify what to look out for in a covid test result report and whether covid test results online are better than self-diagnosis at home.

What Is The Rapid Diagnostic Test For COVID-19?

The majority of rapid diagnostic tests for Covid-19 involve taking a swab sample from about an inch up the nostril and from the back of the throat at the tonsils. A long cotton bud is often provided as the means to take the sample which is then transferred into a saline solution. That saline solution is then put on testing paper inside plastic casing which will be able to show you if your covid test result antigen is positive. If you have covid19, two lines will appear within the test result window as the covid test result antigen is present. One line appears if the test is valid.

The Best COVID Test Kit

So what makes the best covid test kit product? Is it the ability to have covid test results at home? Or to read your Covid test results online? Or is it the Covid test results time? Below, we highlight some of the factors that we believe make the best, as in reality, it is a mixture of all of these variables that help add up to the best at home covid test kit.

Reliability

You need to be sure that any types of covid test kits you buy, now that NHS kits are no longer free, are reliable. Ensure that your potential kit producer has the right certification in place as well as positive reviews. Those reviews should confirm that you can be confident that when you do take a test with an at-home kit, you can be certain you are getting the right result.

Speed

Some tests will be quicker than others. If all other factors are equal, the quickest test is always the most useful as they are therefore the easiest to fit into your day. Tests that have a short covid test results time mean that you do not have to wait around for your results before being able to head out the door. What makes that doubly good is that if something is easy to fit into your day, you are more likely to do it. Testing regularly has been one of the most effective ways to curb the virus’s spread.

Sensitivity

Some manufacturers of test kits produce tests that are more sensitive than others. The more sensitive it is, usually, the more accurate a result. PCR tests are believed to be more accurate as how a swab is tested is different and more capable of detecting the presence of the virus. However, at-home test kits can still be very sensitive, especially if tests are taken soon after catching the virus when a person’s virus load is at its highest.

Report

Some test kits require you to send off your swab for testing. While these will obviously not be as quick as a lateral flow kit you take at home, what is good is that you can get a covid test result report which you can go on to use to help you travel. The clarity of these reports is crucial to their use, so be sure that your potential provider is able to offer a report suitable for your final needs. You may be able to read this report online, which can be helpful if you are in a country or area that requires confirmation of your Covid19 status.

Recommended Read: How to choose a COVID testing company

Covid Test Results At Home

To ensure the accuracy of your results, it can be a good idea to go over what gives the best Covid test result at home. For example, it is essential that you wash your hands to minimise the chances of contaminating the swab sample you provide. Other ways to make certain that your swab and covid test result report are not compromised:

Leave time between eating

If you have not left enough time between eating and taking your sample, you can contiminate your sample which means any results derived from your swab are void. It is recommended by medical professionals to leave half an hour between eating or drinking and taking a test.

Don’t rush taking a swab

Taking a swab is not a comfortable experience, but it is not helpful to rush doing it as a consequence. If you do it too quickly, you run the risk that not enough cells are collected on the swab which means a reliable test result is difficult to produce. You may not like the feeling, but if you do it too quickly, you’ll end up having to do it twice anyway.

Take tests regularly

Rapid flow tests are not as accurate as PCR tests. However, they do have a high success rate if a person takes a test within a few days of catching Covid19. The accuracy of results diminishes if a person is in the second week of having had the virus. So if a person takes them every few days, they can be fairly sure their test results are correct.

Can you get infected with COVID-19 twice?

It is important to test regularly even if you have had had Covid19 before. That’s because it is possible to get Covid19 twice. If you continue to test regularly after having had the virus, you are able to help stem the spread of the disease.

Getting COVID Tested At Home In Minutes

Getting test results in minutes has been a helpful tool for fighting Covid19. By allowing people the ability to test themselves at home, people can then know with confidence whether they are a carrier or not. They can then stop mixing with others which immediately stops the virus’s ability to spread to others. As getting test results in minutes is so quick and easy to do, people have, ultimately, been far better at testing which is why it has been such an effective means of curbing Covid19.

Get Covid Tested At Home In Minutes

Rachel Lee

Having worked at Morgan Stanley and BNYMellon for over 10 years in pensions and investments, Rachel now works as a full-time business and financial writer.