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Abstract: 

Even though demand for COVID-19 tests greatly overwhelmed supply earlier in the pandemic, rapid tests are more available today. While rapid tests provide a quick, accurate result, the flip side is that many test results are no longer reported to health authorities. The authors are part of a team at UMass Chan Medical School that has been studying COVID-19 molecular, or PCR, and antigen test performance over the past two years and conducted large-scale, real-world studies to understand how over-the-counter rapid tests perform in comparison to PCR tests in detecting different variants of SARS-CoV-2. This article briefly summarizes the principle results of their work and discusses whether mass distribution of rapid antigen tests prior to a surge helps prevent spread.

Keywords: Role of Rapid Antigen Tests; Over-the-Counter Tests and Reporting

Affiliations:  1: UMass Chan Medical School; 2: UMass Chan Medical School.