
Contact a healthcare provider if you have any questions about your test result or if your symptoms worsen.Take everyday preventive actions to prevent spreading an illness to others.For many diseases, including flu, early diagnosis and prompt treatment is important for preventing severe illness. You may have another viral infection or illness that you need to get tested for.You may have COVID-19, but tested before the virus was detectable.Self-tests, along with vaccination and prevention actions, can help you protect yourself and others.Ī negative COVID-19 test means the test did not detect the virus, but this doesn’t rule out that you could have an infection.You may get a PCR test as an alternative to repeat testing.Self-tests are more likely to detect the virus if you have symptoms. Take a third test, 48 hours after the second, if the second test was negative and you don’t have symptoms. FDA recommends people who get an initial negative result on an antigen test, take at least one more test 48 hours later.Although self-tests are usually faster, they are not as good at detecting the virus as PCR tests, meaning you might get a false negative result.

These are different from laboratory-based PCR tests or self-collected samples that are sent to a laboratory these may take days to return your result. They give you results in 10-15 minutes and are usually antigen tests.Self-tests detect current infection and are sometimes also called “home tests,” “at-home tests,” or “over-the-counter (OTC) tests.”.Self-tests for COVID-19 give rapid results and can be taken anywhere.
