Home COVID-19 test kits may not be as accurate with newer variants
As Southern California enters graduation and summer barbecue season, as well as another COVID surge, many people might be relying on home tests to determine if they are safe to gather in large groups.
RELATED: LA County reports 12,694 new COVID cases over holiday weekend
Some people, though, are questioning how reliable home test kits are and how long a person can stay contagious after coming up positive for COVID.
Eduardo Cuevas has two children graduating in two weeks and worries about them staying COVID free.
"...because now you can go without a mask, and there will be hundreds of people there. So, I am a little worried about my children," he said.
Like many people, Cuevas has relied on home COVID testing kits.
"One time it came out negative and they ended up being positive," he told CBSLA.
Asked how accurate the home test kits are in detecting new variants, infectious disease doctor at Cedars Sinai Tarzana Medical Center, Dr. Jeff Galpin said the tests are not as reliable as they once were.
"Less accurate than they were and probably 60% maybe," Dr. Galpin said. "We don't have good data."
Galpin said people need to use more than one home test if they have symptoms, but it is possible that people a person is simply sick, though not with COVID. Southern California is also experiencing a surge in upper-respiratory viruses and COVID no longer has clear cut symptoms.
"Everyone is look at fever and temperature, which was the original. That's not a good screening anymore," Galpin said. "People are getting sore throats, respiratory, GI tract...they are getting diarrhea."
Doctors said they are also seeing COVID positive patients infectious for well beyond the fives the Centers for Disease Control recommends for people to isolate, meaning some are going back to work or out in public when they are still contagious.
"You might have difficulty eradicating the virus and continue spreading the virus to other people," Little Company of Mary Critical Care Physician Dr. Alex Hakim said.
Both doctors, however, said people can enjoy their summer in larger groups as long as they stay safe about it.
"We're not seeing the lethality. We are not seeing people on life support, we're not seeing people die of COVID like we used to," Dr. Hakim said.
Doctors said that as long as people are testing positive at home, they need to stay at home, even if they feel okay, because antigen tests only detect the virus when it's contagious.
