Your at-home COVID test came back positive. Here’s what doctors, experts say you

As the coronavirus’s highly-virulent Omicron variant drives a fresh spike in infections and snarls year-end plans, many are turning to at-home rapid tests to decide what they can and can’t do.

Though the surge has led to shortages of the tests in some places, they are now far easier to find than in past COVID-19 waves. They’re easy to administer and fairly accessible — though they usually cost about $20 for a two-pack — offering a quick way for people to gauge risk during another holiday season marred by the virus.

For all their convenience, however, at-home rapid tests have also posed plenty of new questions: Should a more-accurate PCR test follow a positive take-home result? And if the second test comes back negative, which result wins out?

As has often been the case since the pandemic began, answers to those questions require a dose of nuance.

“It all depends on the context and the situation,” said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert at the University of California, San Francisco. “And it’s hard for people to make that judgement call.”

Rapid take-home tests and PCR tests use different science to determine whether someone has COVID-19. PCR tests are more precise and accurate, but the take-home tests are faster and more convenient.

“(Rapid tests) have a different utility than the PCR test, which was designed to be clinically diagnostic of infection no matter what the level,” said Dr. Susan Hassig, an epidemiologist at Tulane University. “But the antigen tests, which are the rapid tests, are more useful from a public health perspective in terms of identifying when you are most likely to be infectious.”

In an ideal world, everyone who gets a positive at-home test result would be able to confirm that result with a more-accurate PCR exam at their local doctor’s office or urgent care clinic, said Dr. Katie Taylor.

But a recent testing bottleneck, stretching from Louisiana to New York City, means that might not be be a feasible option for many people, according to Taylor, an infectious disease doctor at Our Lady of…