Wyomingites, Here’s How To Detect The New ‘Rona’ At Home

You always hear that 9/11 changed the way we fly, there's no doubt that's the truth. There's also no way of denying that 2020, and the COVID mess, changed the way some people live when it comes to illness and trying to prevent spreading the 'Rona'.

To vaccine, or not to vaccine. That's your decision, and one you'll have to make for yourself.

I've talked with many people that haven't changed anything about their regular routine, me included, but there are many that wear the mask, constantly wash their hands, and home-test when they feel sickness coming on.

If you've watched any news, opened any news app, or scrolled social media at all, you know that there's always some new variant of the Rona. Anything to keep the worry there, right?

One thing that I've wondered for quite a while....

With some Wyomingites home-testing for the the 'Rona', can you use the same test that you have in your medicine cabinet? What if it's expired?

I know people that take a 'Rona' home-test anytime they have a sniffle, just to be safe and probably because they're hoping for a few days off work, but if the 'Rona' is evolving how can the tests still work? We're always hearing about the 'New' variant of the illness, so can it really detect, or are the ones you picked up at Walmart useless?

Luckily for us all, the information highway, has an answer for us.

Dr. Mathew Binnicker Ph.D., Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, at the Mayo Clinic says yes, you can use the old tests and it SHOULD work.

What if the test has passed the expiration date:

Now that we are 3 1/2 years out of the pandemic, those manufacturers have had the opportunity to go back and assess the the tests performance over prolonged periods of time. They've actually updated the expiration date in many cases. If you happen to take a test that is beyond the expiration date, and that test is positive, that's likely a reliable result.

Can the older tests detect the newest strand of the 'Rona'?

YES! They should detect the currently circulating strains, of COVID. The good news is that the majority of the changes that are in the virus, with these new variants, is in what's called the spike protein, which is the protein that binds to the cells. And, the protein that theses antigen tests are looking for, is a different protein where not as many of the mutations are occurring. So, that allows us to confidently say that these tests should pick up the currently circulation strings.

So what does that mean?

According to the Dr. if you have a test at home, and use it, it's probably accurate. If you want to home-test, and have a test already, it's ok to use it and feel fairly confident in the result.