Ever since the coronavirus started spreading throughout the world, health care facilities began taking tests to determine if you have the virus. These tests get results based on saliva, mucus, or blood. With many options available, which one should you take?
Types of Tests
There are two primary types of tests today. The first diagnostic test check for COVID infection in your saliva or mucus. The second type is a blood test that checks your blood for antibodies for evidence of infection or previous infection.
Among these two types of tests, there are also some differences. An antigen test looks for a coating in the virus; an antibody test checks for antibodies in your blood sample; an RNA test looks for detects the nucleic acid of the coronavirus.
Note that an RNA test can be extremely sensitive. It means that you can test positive even after you are no longer sick and no longer able to infect other people.
Antigen tests are quick and cheap but not as accurate as RNA tests. Sometimes, antigen tests can give false-negative results, which makes it more likely to miss active cases.
Neither the antigen nor the RNA testing can tell whether a person is no longer contagious. Nonetheless, what test you should get depends on what the goal is.
The Rapid Test
Rapid tests provide results in a matter of minutes. A simple swab, some testing, and you will know if you have the infection. These tests are also cheaper to produce and are typically used to screen a considerable number of people, especially in airports.
This type of test works much the same way as RNA tests. A health care provider uses a rapid test kit and swabs the back of your throat or nose to collect samples of saliva and mucus. It takes days for an RNA test to provide results. Antigen tests take around less than an hour, depending on the queue.
If your results are positive, it has a high probability of being correct. Sometimes, it may miss an active infection. Hence, if you are having COVID symptoms but your test turns out negative, you may be asked to take an RNA test for confirmation.
Conclusion
If you want to check if you have an infection as quickly as possible, a rapid test kit can provide you that information in less than an hour. However, if you experience symptoms but have a negative test result, you may have to take an RNA test.
