Once you get your results, simply toss the test in the trash. A cool way to know if your test is actually working? The blue control line turns a pinkish-purple color. You read the test results like a pregnancy test-two lines means you have COVID-19 one line means you don’t. You then wait 15 minutes for your results. It feels a little weird, but it’s not uncomfortable at all.įrom there, you insert the swab into the test card, pull off the adhesive liner, and close the test card like a book. Instead, it’s kind of like picking your nose with a Q-tip. I’ve had nasopharyngeal swab tests done in the past and, thankfully, this goes nowhere near as deep. From there, you pull out the nasal swap and swirl it around the inside walls of each nostril for 15 seconds. To use the test, you put six drops of a special formula in the top hole of the card. It looks a bit like a pregnancy test, just in card form. The test card has a window with a blue control line that will also show your results when they’re ready. The whole thing centers around a test card and nasal swab. (To be fair, though, I have zero patience-so I don’t totally blame the test for this.)īut once I took a moment to actually do the test, it was incredibly easy. It showed several diagrams that kind of looked like instructions on how to build a jet engine and a slew of steps that made me put off actually doing the test for another time. I’ll admit it: I was intimidated when I first opened the directions for the BinaxNOW test. The BinaxNOW test takes a moment to figure out. The BinaxNOW test is an antigen test, which means it looks for the presence of a specific viral antigen (foreign substance that sparks an immune response in the body) that suggests someone is currently infected with COVID-19.Īntigen tests are considered “relatively inexpensive,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), but they’re usually less sensitive than real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, which are considered the gold-standard in COVID-19 testing. How does the BinaxNOW COVID rapid test work? Here’s what you need to know if you’re interested in rapid COVID-19 testing at home. The experience was interesting-it’s weird to be swabbing your nose at home-but definitely convenient. After I spotted it at my local Walmart (where it was $19.99), I knew I had to try it. “Doing the test at home saves the person from having to go out, potentially infecting others.”īinaxNOW is already on shelves across the country. “It’s an interesting concept that can have important public health benefits,” says Richard Watkins, M.D., an infectious disease physician and a professor of internal medicine at the Northeast Ohio Medical University. (The other is a test by Ellume, which is $38.99.) The least expensive option is called the BinaxNOW test by Abbott, which is listed for $23.99 and promises to deliver results within 15 minutes. Quick and easy access to rapid COVID-19 testing felt like a pipe dream when the coronavirus pandemic first hit the U.S., but two new tests authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are now available at drugstores across the country-without a prescription.
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