KANSAS CITY, Kan. — The Biden Administration is making at home COVID-19 testing kits more accessible to Americans.
Households can request up to four free testing kits on a new federal website or at USPS. Americans could also get reimbursed for tests they have already purchased.
Reimbursement procedures will differ from insurer to insurer. The administration encourages everyone to save receipts from rapid test purchases on or after Jan. 15 to be reimbursed and to reach out to their insurance providers for additional information.
Dr. Dana Hawkinson, an infectious disease physician at the University of Kansas Health System, said PCR tests through laboratories are more accurate, but at-home kits are not a bad option.
“It still has very good sensitivity to pick up disease if you have it. Even with omicron,” Hawkinson said. “If you know you were in a high risk situation — like a group gathering. Or you know you’ve been exposed to somebody who had it, then yes, I think it’s important.”
Hawkinson had a few recommendations:
- If you develop symptoms, test right away
- If you have been exposed and remain asymptomatic, wait several days for the virus to possibly show up in your system
“If you are symptomatic, the sensitivity, the ability to pick up disease, is much better,” she said.
It is important to remember a negative at-home test does not mean you are out of the woods. Hawkinson advised people get a second test to be safe before getting back out in the community.
“If you develop symptoms and you take the at-home test and it’s negative, I think it is very important to act as if you have it,” Hawkinson said. "Because you have enough of those risk factors to believe that you could have been exposed and infected."
According to an article published by PubMed Central, high and low temperatures could also impair sensitivity of some at-home test kits.
With millions of kits being shipped out to U.S. homes, KSHB 41 took a look at the top three testing kits on the market to see how they preserve in extreme temperatures.
- iHealth COVID-19 antigen rapid test must be stored between 36 and 86 degrees Fahrenheit. If users ordered home delivery and expect temperatures in their area to be out of this range, it's recommended to arrange for someone to be at home to bring the tests inside.
- Abbott BinaxNOW antigen test must not be frozen and should always be at room temperature before use, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- QuickVue At-Home OTC COVID-19 test said on their website it performs as expected under different temperatures encountered during shipping.
