What You Should Do , When You Have Symptoms , and Negative At-Home Test Results.<br />'The New York Times' recently offered <br />readers a helpful guide for taking home <br />COVID tests and what the results mean. .<br />In particular, coming up with a negative <br />result can leave some lingering uncertainty. .<br />Rapid home antigen tests identify pieces <br />of viral proteins in a swab of your nose. .<br />They are designed to determine whether <br />there are infectious levels of the virus.<br />This means that lower levels of COVID<br />could still result in a negative test. .<br />If you test negative and you have symptoms,<br />don’t assume you’re negative. Assume that <br />the virus has not had an opportunity to grow <br />up yet. The symptoms might mean your <br />immune system is just triggering <br />a very early warning, Dr. Michael Mina, Chief science officer <br />for eMed, via 'The New York Times'.<br />If you test negative and you have symptoms,<br />don’t assume you’re negative. Assume that <br />the virus has not had an opportunity to grow <br />up yet. The symptoms might mean your <br />immune system is just triggering <br />a very early warning, Dr. Michael Mina, Chief science officer <br />for eMed, via 'The New York Times'.<br />Dr. Michael Mina, chief science officer <br />for eMed, suggests people get tested <br />on the first day of symptoms. .<br />If you end up with a negative result <br />but symptoms continue, he advises <br />that precautions should still be taken. .<br />If testing daily isn't feasible, Dr. Mina suggests <br />testing every 48 hours and taking <br />precautions until symptoms are no longer present. .<br />If you have symptoms and continue to test negative, the chances that you’re infectious with Covid have gone down a lot. But you probably should wear a mask that day because you have something, Dr. Robert Wachter, Chair of the medicine department <br />at the University of California, San Francisco, <br />via 'The New York Times'
