It depends on the test.
Rapid is not as invasive, but also not as reliable. We’ve had a bunch of false positives from rapid testing. Who knows with false negatives as they don’t get retested. The bigger issue is results coming back as “No Test.” Meaning they didn’t get enough to report a result. A total waste of everyone’s time. That is happening far too frequently given one company, Colors, who does rapid testing, is charging us $155 a test - not cheap!
The nasopharyngeal test, where they sexually assault your nose with a Q-Tip, is very reliable but also extremely uncomfortable. It doesn’t hurt. They just hit areas that are reflexive so you convulse and gag a bit. But not everyone has a gag reflex, so there’s that. Only like 15 second, ’though. You get that test, you can trust the results.
Antibody testing has been all over the place. Given my positive test back in May, I’ve been a part of a UCSF study and one said I did have antibodies, the other said I didn’t. And then there’s the T-cell immune response. Think we have a ways to go with all that.
