Des Moines, IA- With cases of COVID-19 on the rise again, the federal government has re-started its program of offering free at-home COVID test kits.
A health official tells Radio Iowa that Iowans should double-check the expiration dates on older kits before using them, or throwing them out.
Brian Benson, executive director of Unit Point Health’s Pharmacy Department says the solution that is mixed with the swab or the indicator panel can go bad over time.
“You might get a false positive, meaning, it could indicate that you have COVID when you don’t, or you could get a false negative where it would say you don’t have COVID and you do,” Benson says, “so the accuracy could be suspect.”
The government is now offering up to four at-home rapid tests to each house that requests them. Benson says that if you are unsure how old your COVID test is, do not use it.
“If there’s a question on the test and you can’t find any data, and it’s been sitting in your closet for a while or your cupboard for a while,” Benson says, “it’s probably best to, when in doubt, throw it out and get a brand new one and use that.”
The FDA has a section on its website that indicates whether expiration dates on various tests have been extended.
The free tests can be ordered at COVIDtests.gov.
