At-home COVID test kits are now the norm when living in a pandemic, but you want to make sure your kit is capable of delivering accurate results.
Available without a prescription, these tests detect active COVID infections in patients. Common misuses of these at-home kits includes performing the nose swab incorrectly, checking results outside the allotted time period, or using the kit past its expiration date.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released a chart depicting which tests have now been granted additional shelf-lives with extended expiration dates and where to find them on your box. Manufacturers of these lengthened test kits have provided the FDA with new data showing the test kit’s shelf-life is outlasting the originally given expiration date.
Extended shelf-lives will provide hyperlinks to the updated expiration dates, while those that remain unchanged will simply say “See box label.”
To learn if the expiration date on your kit has been extended, view the FDA’s chart online.
