As Covid cases surge again in the U.S., Americans are digging out unused at-home tests that they stashed earlier in the pandemic.
Many of those tests may have passed their expiration dates, but don’t throw them away just yet.
The Food and Drug Administration has extended the expiration dates of many popular at-home test products, which means some of your old kits may still be safe to use. You can check by visiting a page on the FDA’s website that lists expiration information for each test brand.
“That’s the first thing I would do before using an expired test or throwing it away,” Andrew Pekosz, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told CNBC.
If the date has not changed, the FDA advises against using expired tests. Doing so increases the chance of an inaccurate test result, which could put your or another person’s health at risk.
Sept. 5, 202301:54
A false result carries more risk again as Covid gains a greater foothold nationwide, primarily driven by newer variants of the virus like the now-dominant EG.5 strain, or “Eris.” Covid hospitalizations jumped nearly 19% last week, marking the sixth straight week of increasing admissions, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Public health experts say testing remains a critical tool for protection as Covid metrics climb. But lab PCR tests — the traditional way of detecting Covid — have become more expensive and less accessible for some Americans since the U.S. government ended the public health emergency in May.
The end of that declaration also changed how public and private insurers cover at-home tests, potentially leaving some people unable to get those tests for free through their plans. However, certain local health clinics and community sites still offer at-home tests to the public at no cost.
Before buying new at-home tests, it wouldn’t hurt to check if any expired ones sitting in your medicine cabinet are still safe to use. Here’s a walkthrough for how to do that, and everything else you need to know about these tests.
How to check for extended expiration dates
The FDA website lists Covid test brands alphabetically in a table. Or, you can use a search box to find your test directly.
The FDA indicates whether each brand has an extended expiration date. It usually provides a link to a PDF with new expirations for specific test lots.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
