> antigen tests aren't going to show covid until a couple days after symptoms start (typically)

This is false? It was definitely false pre-Omicron and my understanding is that it's still false.

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.01.08.22268954v...

> sensitivity was 97.6% (95% CI 95-100%) for persons with symptoms.

Maybe you're saying my claim is exaggerated? Which I agree my wording wasn't precise. With antigen tests you'll have far more false negatives early on than later. The sweet spot seems to be a couple of days after symptoms.

If you're not saying that, I'm not sure what claim you're making that is contrary to my own.

The antigen test is supposed to show if you're currently spreading covid, which is a little different from experiencing it. You'll have symptoms for a while after you stop being infectious too.

With omicron the gap between them is a day or two smaller IIRC.

Personal experience - I started testing positive 1 day after onset of symptoms and my wife 5 days after. We started having typical omicron symptoms at the same time (low grade fever, etc)

You know there are illnesses out there (this is the season) that aren't COVID? My daughter had a temperature & sniffles and a negative test 3 days and 5 days after symptoms started. She just had a cold.

We wouldn't have sent her back to school as early if she wasn't showing negative.

I understand your point, but I assumed someone on house arrest wasn't someones child and is probably in a position to avoid contact with people with any symptoms no matter the illness.

This isn't quite correct. Antigen tests will show covid at approximately the same viral load as is needed to be contagious. Essentially, it's a test of whether you can spread covid today.

here's a good read on the details for anyone wanting a nerdy amount of details for antigen testing https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/antigen-tests...