Negative Covid Test?

If you have been feeling like you have Covid-19 or the flu but one or more at-home Covid-19 test has been negative, don’t assume it’s not Covid-19. In recent months, many people infected with the virus have multiple negative test results at the beginning and middle stages of their illness and will only get a positive at the end of their illness when they are actually feeling much better.

Does this mean my test kits are bad? No. Viruses mutate at a very rapid rate. It’s what they do. If your test kit is not expired, it is probably just fine, and would detect older variants of the Covid-19 virus. This is just a function of how much of the virus is present in the nostrils over time.

To know for sure if you have Covid-19, you will need to visit a medical provider and have a sample collected to be analyzed with a more accurate method, a PCR test, performed by a laboratory.

The best practices if you are sick, whether it is Covd-19 or not, is to take appropriate precautions not to spread the illness to others. We all know the drill at this point, stay away from others, wash hands and surfaces frequently and wear a mask, especially around vulnerable populations.