Should you take an at-home expired COVID test?
ORLANDO, Fla. - People were waiting for COVID-19 tests at Camping World Stadium after saying they couldn’t find an at-home test on Tuesday.
We asked if they would use one, even if their kit was expired.
"I’d use it," said Beth Woodhall.
"I would probably use it, but then I would probably second guess the results," said Lisa Hennan.
Recently, Volusia County Schools learned that some of the district’s at-home test kits meant for families and staff were expired.
"We’ve had a few families reach out to us and a couple of our schools saying, ‘Hey, we have some of the kits that are expired. What should we do?’ And, we immediately told them those are good to go out," said Kelly Schulz, the district’s communications director.
Schulz says they checked with the health department and learned the Abbot BinaxNOW tests recently had their expiration dates extended into February.
But, what about other brands that might be expired?
"They have to put a date on there where they know absolutely for sure that it’s at least 98% effective," said Dr. Todd Husty about the companies. "That doesn’t mean on that date it just sort of disintegrates. It’s just they know at that point it’s 98% still there."
Husty, a local EMS director says it won’t hurt to take an expired COVID test, but the results could be less accurate, especially for a negative result.
He says if you test negative but have COVID symptoms, you should probably still stay home.
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