Social Are Home Covid Tests Reliable?

Literally just talking to a coworker about this topic... Is there a "viral load" threshold that has to be met for a positive test, and can it be met with the natural virus'/bacteria we have on our person's that our immune system is handling? Like how we all supposedly have staph on our skin but aren't affected by it, we'd fail a test for staph germs even tho it's nothing to worry about? If that's possible, of course "they'd" want everyone to have "positive" tests to perpetuate the narrative so make sure you test often just in case you've been exposed, with or without symptoms...
There is a limit of detection for any type of test. With a rapid test, you have a dye that has an extremely specific binding site for a target molecule. What this means is that you have to have enough target molecules binding to visualize the dye by eye.

PCR, in contrast, they use a technique to make target DNA copy itself many times over so that whatever you’re looking for is amplified many orders of magnitude.

The reason that in either case it’s highly unlikely that you’d receive a false positive from some other microorganism is because what is used to quantify a signal as positive is so specific to your target- a lock and key is the analogy commonly used.

In general, a rapid test is more likely to show a false negative because it’s less sensitive, and a PCR test is more likely to show a false positive because it’s amplifying signals that could come from contamination.
 
This had been a weird covid experience for me this week. Arguably Monday and Tuesday were the worst due to the fever. The extreme chills and sweats were just not fun. Wednesday the fever started tapering off and by Thursday it was gone. However it was replaced with a day of diarrhea and 3 days with severe aching of my eyes. Any light or just moving them hurt pretty bad and I noticed my nose running. I'm pretty sure now I have a sinus infection but the eyes don't ache anymore.

Saturday morning I was woken up due to an extreme aching of my left hip which I thought was simply from laying down most of the week. During the day it got progressively worse and it progressed to both hips, lower back, and all the way down the back of my legs, all simlutaneously. There was nearly nothing I could do or any position I could sit or lay down that gave relief and I was simply miserable.

I finally laid flat on my back with my feet flat on the ground and my knees up, this was the only thing I could do that allowed me to sleep a bit.

It got even worse in the evening but took some ibuprofen before bed and slept the same way I had earlier until the pills worked and I was able to lay normally.

I've been taking my vitamins, drinking COPIOUS amounts of water (including electrolytes) and been resting as much as possible.

Tomorrow will be day 7 and I think we are passed the hump and should be recovered by Wednesday.
 
sounds like you def got covid dude. Forget the home test just focus on getting rest so your symptoms go away. I tested negative on one of those home kits when I clearly had all the symptoms and was stuck in bed for 3 days. The tests are really hit or miss.
 
False positives happen but are rare. You have COVID.

False negatives are pretty common with the at home test. If you test before the viral load is high, you will probably get a false negative. I actually saw this in action this week. I had a coworker test on Tuesday when he first started feeling sick and got a negative. 2 days later he was feeling more sick, took it again and was positive

Yup.

In many people there's a period between when they picked up the virus and when they'll first test positive.

Can be up to 5+ days in some cases, and it's not unusual that people can test negative even during the first few days of symptoms but test positive later that week.

You can still be contagious during that period too.
 
Usually the problem is not getting the specimen correctly is a problem. Leads to lots of false-negatives in real use.
 
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why do you need a test to tell you if you are sick if you are sick? Now if you need it to get out of your job then I doubt they gonna take a home test as proof, you need to get a PCR test.
 
My cousin had a faint line test... I sure do miss him
 
My buddy took three home tests while waiting for his PCR. All came up negative. His PCR came up positive. He was mildly sick.
 
100%. I have had to miss work 3 weeks with pay since November. The home test just keeps saying I have COVID.

And I have to take Another next week too.
You are joking right?
 
As others mentioned, false positive is very very rare. If your kit shows two lines, it's likely you have covid.

I have done 40+ ART and been negative so far to the point that I wasn't sure if the kit actually works. Until my boss got a positive.
First time I did one of these tests was on someone already confirmed with covid and it came up positive.
 
I'm on day 8 and aside from exhaustion I'm past it. Rapid test I just did shows I'm in the clear.

FH4s0-Bo-Xo-AEQI2s.jpg
 
I'm on day 8 and aside from exhaustion I'm past it. Rapid test I just did shows I'm in the clear.

FH4s0-Bo-Xo-AEQI2s.jpg

Uh...

<Dany07>

Forgot to post...

My son, 16, just had COVID this past week. Tested positive with symptoms & negative a week later without them. Wife is positive & on day 5. Both say it's like a mild cold. My in-laws just caught it for a 2nd time recently.
 
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