·  Antigen tests are immunoassays that detect proteins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that form during the infection cycle and indicate that a person has an active infection.

·  These tests use a sample collected from the nose or throat.

·  Insurance companies will only cover this type of testing in symptomatic patients. Cost of testing is $100.

What do my results mean?

·  Negative: the presence of the viral antigen was not detected in your nose/throat. This could be a true negative (you are not infected with the virus that causes Covid-19) or a false negative result (you are infected but your test was negative). You may have a false negative if you were tested too soon or too late and there was not enough viral material to detect.

·  Positive: the presence of the viral antigen was detected in your nose/throat indicating that you have been infected with the virus that causes Covid-19. If you have a positive test you are required to self isolate at home. If you never developed symptoms you can discontinue self isolation 10 days after your positive test. If you developed symptoms you can discontinue self isolation 10 days after your first symptom began AND no fever for 24 hours without the use of fever reducing medications AND improvement in other symptoms.