9:24 p.m.: FDA warns against rapid tests for asymptomatic people
People without COVID-19 symptoms and who aren't known to have been exposed to the virus shouldn't necessarily be screened with a rapid test, the Food and Drug Administration said Friday in updated guidance on its website.
This new guidance raises questions about whether businesses, sports teams and others are too reliant on the rapid tests to screen asymptomatic people because they are less sensitive than PCR tests.
PHOTO: A health worker test a man for COVID-19 at a pop up testing location on the boardwalk at Revere Beach in Revere, Mass., on Aug. 11, 2020.
Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images
Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images
A health worker test a man for COVID-19 at a pop up testing location on the boardwalk at Revere Beach in Revere, Mass., on Aug. 11, 2020.
A health worker test a man for COVID-19 at a pop up testing location on the boardwalk at Revere Beach in Revere, Mass., on Aug. 11, 2020.
"'Negative' results should be considered as 'presumptive negative,' and healthcare providers should consider them in the context of clinical observations, patient history, and epidemiological information," the FDA wrote on its webpage.
Rapid diagnostic tests are done with a nasal or throat swab and can deliver results in an hour or less. They can be molecular or antigen tests, but not antibody tests.
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