COVID-19 Pandemic: How Accurate Are The At-home COVID-19 Test Kits?

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As the novel COVID-19 contagion remains a threat and testing remains a top priority, the demand for at-home testing kits continues to surge. 

As the name suggests, at-home tests can be used from the safety and comfort of your home. The Food and Drug Administration granted these at-home test kits emergency clearances to be sold for people in need. Most of these kits use nasal swabs that are sent back to a laboratory for results, and others use a saliva sample. 

However, there are issues about the at-home testing kits, particularly if they are made to deliver precise results. Take the nasal swabs, for instance. It is shorter than the swab used in the PCR test, and it could affect test results. 

The Challenge

According to Gary Procop, MD, a pathologist, the challenge in at-home test kits is ensuring you get a good specimen. A good sample is a pillar for any test. Sure, you can have a high-quality test kit at hand, but if you don't have a good sample, the results will be dissatisfactory. 

When you buy a coronavirus home testing kit, one significant challenge is to do it yourself with no first-hand advice from a medical professional. Dr. Procop says that the adequacy of sample collection at home is something to be worried about. 

Also, he mentions a recent study from UCLA's Fielding School of Public Health (that is yet to be peer-reviewed), the success rate of at-home collected specimens under the direct advice from a healthcare provider versus those tests taken without. 

The study deliberated many test specimens taken from 45 respondents. Twenty-nine of them had more than one COVID-19 positive result. The best result came from the self-test oral swabs that are supervised by a clinician. 

It detected 90 percent of COVID-19 positive individuals (26 out of 29 participants) and an 85 % success rate. On the other hand, medical professional-collected nasal swabs had a 79 percent success rate of perceiving positive tests. 

Contrarily, the self-test oral swab tests without direct supervision from a health professional detected 66 percent of positive results. With these in mind, having a medical professional present is a huge advantage when it comes to assisting a patient to correctly take the test. 

The Key Advantage Of At-home Test Kits

According to Dr. Procop, at-home test kits are safe in many ways. Say, for example, a person thinks that he or she might be sick, it's great that they do not have to go out and risk virus exposure. 

Additionally, at-home test kits mean that medical professionals can conserve PPEs used for a clinician, onsite-administered tests. Even so, you usually need the help of a medical professional to interpret the results.

We all want to get the correct answer, and it can only be done under a clinician's advice. It would be great to self-administer the test with video monitoring where a medical professional can give you instructions. 

How Accurate Are At-home Test Kits

Accuracy is the cornerstone of any diagnostic and lab test. As a matter of fact, the FDA hands out suggestions for the test validation in its emergency use authorization policy, highlighting that false results can lead to widespread public health impact. 

The FDA reported that they've worked with LabCorp to ascertain that data from self-test home collection is as accurate and safe as a collection in hospitals. Vault, a biopharmaceutical company, claims that their COVID-19 testing kits are sensitive for the presence of the virus, with 98 percent of tests delivering either a negative or positive result. 

Additionally, 2 percent of tests deliver an ambiguous result. Moreover, EverlyWell, a home health testing company, used data from other research that showed constancy of testing specimens during shipping.

What's more, Vitagene, a start-up biotech company, states on their official website that their COVID-19 test kits have a 99.99 percent sensitivity and a 100 percent specificity. There's hardly any information available on the precision of the non-certified at-home test kits. 

Should You Buy An At-home Test?

Although the decision to buy an at-home testing kit is up to each person, according to Dr. Procop, getting one is undoubtedly an option with a few advantages. However, there's a chance that you may get an incorrect result if a good sample is not submitted. 

If you decide to buy an at-home test, ensure to check with your insurance company and test provider about coverage and cost. Some tests might be covered in your insurance, and others might not be and could cost at least 100 dollars.

Takeaway

At-home testing kits are confidential, convenient, and likely boosts health care for people in places where access to hospitals and medical laboratories is limited. The appeal of these tests is clear; anyone can get COVID-19 tested from the luxury of their home, without risking further exposure.