Four free home Covid-19 antigen tests are available to order at COVIDTests.gov, part of the seventh round of the federal government’s test-distribution program.
And although this round of test orders has been going on for only a month, some people have reported that some tests are nearing their expiration date.
It may be tempting to throw away those tests or other Covid-19 home test kits that are labeled near their expiration dates, but the US Food and Drug Administration is encouraging people to check its website for extensions before possibly throwing away perfectly good tests.
These antigen tests, often called rapid tests, detect proteins called antigens from the virus that causes Covid-19. They can provide positive or negative test results within minutes in your own home.
The FDA says shelf life is “how long the test should work as expected and is measured from the date the test was manufactured.” The expiration date is “set at the end of the shelf-life and is the date through which the test is expected to perform as accurately as when manufactured.”
Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of infectious diseases at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, says that some Covid-19 tests can continue to function properly up to a year after the expiration date on their label, assuming they are stored properly.
“As long as they haven’t been seriously abused and left out in the sun or in other ways had any ‘aggressions’ on the test, they ought to still work,” Schaffner said.
Covid-19 test manufacturers decide these dates through laboratory testing, he noted.
“They manufacture the tests, and then they put them on the shelf,” Schaffner said. “They periodically take them off the shelf two months, four months, six months, et cetera, and see how well they work in order to provide the Food and Drug Administration assurance that they will still function as intended.”
Experts recommend taking a Covid-19 test if you develop symptoms such as cough, fever, shortness of breath and fatigue. Different respiratory infections can have similar symptoms, so it may be hard to know what’s causing your illness. The FDA recommends that people take several rapid tests to ensure they do not have Covid-19: two negative tests for those with symptoms and three for those without symptoms, performed 48 hours apart.
Prescription drugs like Paxlovid can help with Covid-19 symptoms, and Tamiflu can treat the flu. But these medications work best when taken soon after symptoms start, so it’s best to get tested when you start to feel sick.
“The respiratory tract, the nose, the throat and the bronchial tubes that go down to the lung are simple organs,” Schaffner said. “They respond kind of similarly to most kinds of respiratory viral infections. All of these viruses can produce common cold symptoms, but then they go on to become more symptomatic.”
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With respiratory virus season getting underway, experts recommend getting Covid-19, flu and RSV vaccinations, if eligible, in the fall to provide protection when the season peaks between December and March.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that everyone ages 6 months and older get a 2024-25 Covid-19 vaccine as well as an updated flu shot. RSV vaccination is recommended for everyone 75 and older and for those 60 and over who are at higher risk of severe illness.
The shots help expose your immune system to these germs so they’re less likely to make you seriously ill if you catch them.
“That’s the way these vaccines work: They prevent serious disease,” Schaffner said. “Our patients grumble when they get milder infections because they say, ‘I was miserable for four days. I wouldn’t call that mild.’ So we’re sorry you had the flu for several days, but I’m glad you didn’t have to enjoy the benefits of our hospital.”
