Key Takeaways

While testing people for COVID-19 has been a critical issue during the pandemic, its importance seems to be on the downslide as vaccinations take precedence. But that’s a mistake, health experts say.

“Testing is a core part of a public health campaign to defeat any epidemic or pandemic," Jeremy Levin, chairman ofBIO, the global Biotechnology Innovation Organization, tells Verywell. He explains COVID-19 testing serves several key functions, including:

COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Tracker

Testing Is Essential to Managing the Pandemic

In a March 2 editorial from the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA), a dozen infectious disease experts emphasized the importance of continued COVID-19 testing to manage the pandemic. Beyond just diagnosing the virus, say the researchers, testing also allows healthcare providers to:

Two of the editorial’s authors,Mary K. Hayden, MD, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois, andRomney M. Humphries, PhD, Medical Director of the Clinical Microbiology Laboratory at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee,spoke at a reporter’s briefing on behalf of the IDSAon March 4, 2021, regarding COVID-19 testing in the U.S.

“We are seeing very little respiratory infection in the U.S. right now other than COVID, so one reason for testing—even if a person has had the virus—is because we want to know how vulnerable they are to a second infection, perhaps from a variant,” Hayden said.

“If you don’t test, you don’t know how much infection you have. And while infection rates are much lower, they are still high,” Humphries said. “The public health reasons to test are to know how much disease is in the community and who might be part of the chain of transmission so you can do contact tracing.”

Balancing Testing Efforts With Vaccination Efforts

Fortunately, the federal government is focused on ramping up testing. On March 11, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package. Within the package, almost $48 billion is earmarked to expand and support testing and contact tracing, including in priority settings like schools and shelters. The money will help the U.S. invest in testing capacity so that public health officials can track the virus in real time.

These initiatives are on top of new testing capacity added in February when theBiden Administration announced an expansion in testing resources, including:

What This Means For YouTesting remains a critical part of managing the COVID-19 pandemic. If you have been exposed to someone with the virus or are experiencing symptoms, get tested. Testing may be required for things like travel, work, or school.

What This Means For You

Testing remains a critical part of managing the COVID-19 pandemic. If you have been exposed to someone with the virus or are experiencing symptoms, get tested. Testing may be required for things like travel, work, or school.

Expanding At-Home Testing

Molecular tests, also known as PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests, detect RNA (genetic material) in patient samples from nasal swabs. The molecular tests are generally more accurate than antigen tests, which detect only protein fragments specific to SARS-COV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

While many at-home COVID-19 tests have received FDA emergency use authorization, the at-home component largely refers to sample collection. Then, users have to send their sample to a lab for analysis and wait for results. BinaxNow andLuciraare FDA-authorized and deliver results at home, but they require a prescription.Ellumeis an OTC test that delivers results at home, but it’s an antigen test.

At the IDSA briefing, experts expressed concern about whether or not at-home testing with at-home results will help us get a true picture of the state of COVID-19 in the country, since the results won’t necessarily be reported to a public health department.

Cue Health says a next generation version of its test will have the capacity to transmit results to public health departments.

While not a part of any current federal plan, free at-home testing could be a boon to helping end the pandemic, researchers say. A study from the Yale School of Public Health estimated that mailing a package of COVID-19 tests to every household in America and asking people to use them once a week could greatly reduce total infections and mortality, based on a mathematical model the researchers developed.

The information in this article is current as of the date listed, which means newer information may be available when you read this. For the most recent updates on COVID-19, visit ourcoronavirus news page.

3 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.COVID data tracker.Humphries RM, Azar MM, Caliendo AM, et al.To test, perchance to diagnose: practical strategies for SARS-CoV-2 testing. Open Forum Infectious Diseases. 2021;ofab095. doi:10.1093/ofid/ofab095Paltiel AD, Zheng A, Sax PE.Clinical and economic effects of widespread rapid testing to decrease sars-cov-2 transmission.Ann Intern Med. 2021;174(6):803-810. doi:10.7326/M21-0510

3 Sources

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.COVID data tracker.Humphries RM, Azar MM, Caliendo AM, et al.To test, perchance to diagnose: practical strategies for SARS-CoV-2 testing. Open Forum Infectious Diseases. 2021;ofab095. doi:10.1093/ofid/ofab095Paltiel AD, Zheng A, Sax PE.Clinical and economic effects of widespread rapid testing to decrease sars-cov-2 transmission.Ann Intern Med. 2021;174(6):803-810. doi:10.7326/M21-0510

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.COVID data tracker.Humphries RM, Azar MM, Caliendo AM, et al.To test, perchance to diagnose: practical strategies for SARS-CoV-2 testing. Open Forum Infectious Diseases. 2021;ofab095. doi:10.1093/ofid/ofab095Paltiel AD, Zheng A, Sax PE.Clinical and economic effects of widespread rapid testing to decrease sars-cov-2 transmission.Ann Intern Med. 2021;174(6):803-810. doi:10.7326/M21-0510

Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.COVID data tracker.

Humphries RM, Azar MM, Caliendo AM, et al.To test, perchance to diagnose: practical strategies for SARS-CoV-2 testing. Open Forum Infectious Diseases. 2021;ofab095. doi:10.1093/ofid/ofab095

Paltiel AD, Zheng A, Sax PE.Clinical and economic effects of widespread rapid testing to decrease sars-cov-2 transmission.Ann Intern Med. 2021;174(6):803-810. doi:10.7326/M21-0510

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