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Re:FDA authorizes rapid, at-home coronavirus test by notatoad on Wednesday December 16, 2020 @12:05PM (#25444991)
As I understand it, these tests rarely produce a false positive, but often produce a false negative. So a positive test result on 6 occurrences is a much stronger signal than a negative result on 8 days. If you get a positive result from a rapid test, you should either self isolate or take a PCR test to confirm.

Think about what you would do if you wake up with cold or flu symptoms these days - there's a chance you don't have covid, but you still need to be extremely careful. These rapid tests should be thought of as a more effective version of the "do I have symptoms" test everybody does subconsciously every day.

Re:FDA authorizes rapid, at-home coronavirus test by mlyle on Wednesday December 16, 2020 @12:08PM (#25445044)
Sensitivity of these tests is 95%, but specificity is 97%. So it can definitely be wrong in both directions.
Re:FDA authorizes rapid, at-home coronavirus test by spion on Wednesday December 16, 2020 @01:01PM (#25445882)
Some rapid tests go as high as 99.97% specificity.