What to do, and not to do, if your home COVID-19 test comes back positive
PORTLAND, Maine —
As communities head back to work and school following the winter holidays, more people are relying on at-home COVID-19 test kits.
Doctors are sharing what they say your next steps should be if your home test comes back positive.
Dr. Dora Anne Mills with MaineHealth said the home test results are reliable and patients should not look to confirm their results with a PCR test at a clinic or hospital.
“If you take a home antigen test and it comes back positive, you can generally take that to the bank,” she said.
Health officials are urging people to avoid hospitals and testing sites for mild or asymptomatic cases to free up resources like PCR tests.
“There’s such a huge demand for (PCR test) right now for people who are sick and who don’t have a home test,” Mills said. “That’s why we’re really trying to preserve the testing systems.”
Mills said if someone is not experiencing symptoms and has not been in close contact with someone they know has the virus and test positive with an at-home kit, they should consider themselves to be positive, isolate and follow up with another at-home test in 24 hours.
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https://sayyescovidhometest.org/
NH State Representative Steven Smith 