By Sara Berg, MS; AMA
With masks going away and more people going back to work in offices, it has left many people wondering whether their symptoms are allergies, COVID-19 or just the common cold. Yet knowing the ins and outs of COVID-19 has been difficult to navigate, especially when new guidance to follow leaves even the most diligent person feeling lost. As the United States continues to search for a new normal, questions linger about COVID-19 and what role testing continues to play.
The AMA’s What Doctors Wish Patients Knew™ series provides physicians with a platform to share what they want patients to understand about today’s health care headlines, especially throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
In this installment, AMA member Emily Volk, MD, president of the College of American Pathologists and chief medical officer at Baptist Health Floyd in metropolitan Louisville, discusses what patients need to know about ongoing COVID-19 testing as the country tries to obtain a “new normal.” Dr. Volk is also an associate professor of pathology at the University of Louisville School of Medicine.
At-home tests require care
Dr. Volk frequently gets asked about when the at-home test is a better choice than a hospital laboratory or reference laboratory polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, which detects the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
A COVID-19 “at-home test is an antigen-based test. It is not as sensitive or specific, meaning it doesn’t work quite as well as the PCR test done in a laboratory,” Dr. Volk explained. “However, its convenience factor makes up for a lot of its deficiencies.”
“The fact that you can actually test yourself and get a reasonably accurate result within about 20 minutes can be very, very powerful,” she said. “It’s very important, though, if you use those tests at home, that you treat them with the respect that they deserve.”
“When you’re doing a COVID-19 test at home, make sure you are actually reading the instructions, paying full attention, taking away any distractions—the doorbell ringing, your phone beeping and so on—and give this your full attention,” Dr. Volk said.
Continue reading or listen to the podcast at ama-assn.org.