Rapid test only when symptomatic, and use a mirror when swabbing, experts say

Over the last two years, clinical PCR tests have played an important role in New Brunswick's efforts to control COVID-19. You have symptoms, you get tested. If it's negative you get on with your life, if it's positive you self-isolate.

But, with an exploding case count, the province is now only allowing PCR testing for people over 50 or for younger people who are immunocompromised. That means the certainty of a PCR test is no longer available to most New Brunswickers.

The alternative provided by the province is the rapid test — at-home screening tools that provide results in less than an hour. They're less reliable, and there's more room for error if they're done at home.

On top of that, only people with symptoms are eligible to pick those tests up, meaning they're not as freely available as they used to be. 

So what is their purpose, and how do you use them properly?

Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Jennifer Russell said rapid tests are a good alternative to PCR tests in young healthy people because the focus these days is preventing hospitalization. 

Now that 83 per cent of eligible people are fully vaccinated, younger healthy people are less likely to be hospitalized and don't need the extra measure of a PCR test and close Public Health attention, she said.

"The risks are higher if you're over the age of 50, and the PCR test has our public health folks providing follow up as well," she said.

She said as case numbers rise, it's not possible to give everyone a PCR test.

Russell said the purpose of the rapid tests is to limit the spread of COVID-19, but they're not bullet proof.

Dr. Lisa Barrett, an assistant professor at the Division of Infectious Diseases at Dalhousie University's Department of Medicine, said rapid tests are useful when showing a positive result, but a negative test doesn't mean you're not carrying the virus.

"A negative test tells you that you're less infectious that day. It reduces your risk. It doesn't take it away," she said. "And for the next little while, with tests being rarer and people wanting to use them to diagnose COVID, it does make sense to use them when you have symptoms."

Russell said people should only test if they have symptoms such as a sore throat, runny nose, fatigue, cough, loss of taste or smell.

This is different from the holiday guidance of "rapid test before you gather." Russell said the change is to conserve stock.