Do COVID tests still work after they expire? Here’s how to tell.

With COVID-19 instances on the rise once more within the U.S., People are reviving a well-recognized precautionary measure: Screening for the virus utilizing fast at-home exams.

Many individuals nonetheless have kits the authorities previously supplied to all households free of charge, particularly as some faculties and companies once more require exams. But completely different COVID exams bear expiration dates which have lengthy since handed, elevating questions on whether or not they’re nonetheless efficient. 

As soon as in brief provide, take a look at kits are actually simpler to return by however are pricey, costing roughly $25 for a pack of two exams. The White Home despatched fast at-home COVID take a look at kits freed from cost to People who requested them as just lately as final December as a part of its “winter preparedness plan.” 

The excellent news is that some COVID take a look at kits which are previous their expiration dates should still be efficient. Here is learn how to discover out in case your COVID take a look at is protected to make use of. It is also nonetheless doable for each insured and uninsured folks to get free testing. 

Why did the FDA prolong expiration dates?

The Meals and Drug Administration maintains an inventory of approved over-the-counter COVID diagnostic exams that signifies if the expiration date printed on their packaging is legitimate or if it has been prolonged. 

The FDA has prolonged the expiration dates of numerous completely different take a look at manufacturers, lengthening their shelf lives to as much as two years. The extensions are available response to producers testing their kits for accuracy past their printed expirations dates and sharing the outcomes with the FDA. 

See the FDA’s full checklist of test-kit expiration date extensions right here. 

Which take a look at manufacturers can you utilize after they’ve “expired”?

Abbott’s broadly used BinaxNow COVID take a look at kits now have a shelf lifetime of as much as 22 months, relying on when the exams had been manufactured.  In January of 2023, the pharmaceutical agency instructed clients that kits they’d beforehand bought “could now have an extended than labeled product expiry date.”

“All BinaxNOW COVID-19 Antigen Self Check kits at the moment have a twenty-two-month expiry date,” the corporate stated. Abbott added that expiration dates could possibly be prolonged once more sooner or later, pending new information on their viability.

The Flowflex COVID-19 Antigen House Check from Acon Laboratories may also be used nicely previous its printed expiration date, in response to the FDA, which granted the extension in March. The exams are good for a further yr previous their expiration dates. For instance, exams with printed “October 2022” expiration dates needs to be thought of applicable for utilization till October 2023. 

What occurs if a COVID take a look at is really expired?

Customers of different exams, like Ellume’s COVID-19 House Check, ought to seek advice from the expiration date printed on the exams’ packaging. If a take a look at actually is expired, the outcomes it delivers can’t be trusted, in response to the FDA.

“COVID-19 exams and the components they’re made from could degrade, or break down, over time. Due to this, expired take a look at kits may give inaccurate or invalid take a look at outcomes,” the FDA stated in an announcement on its web site.