2-Count BinaxNOW COVID‐19 Antigen Self Test Expired

According to the description: "This test does NOT meet the CDC testing requirements to enter the U.S. when returning from a trip abroad."

RN here and many of the swabs we had were considered expired or close to it. The manufacturer pushed back the swabs 3 months so something to consider when purchasing. That is to say, whatever the expiration date says may actually be longer. However, if one is using this swab for an employer or for a kid to go back to school they often want a PCR. These are mostly helpful after one has had symptoms for 2 full days, no more than 7(per manufacturer) and for one's own knowledge.... Like protecting the grandparents who are watching the kids or if their job is more "low key" and willing to accept a home swab.

I'm a parent of four under 9 and these have been lifesavers given the myriad sniffles and sneezes that school-aged kids come home with. I've given at least 10 of these tests to our kids, I always give them two at a time usually at least an hour or two apart, and so far I haven't had any issues with false negatives (no positives yet, knock on wood...). Here's what I'd like to share from our experiences:

The BinaxNOW clinical data is available on their website and in their instructions... no need for people to continue injecting silly 'best guesses' into this thread! Here's data directly from the FDA:
https://www.fda.gov/media/147254/download

This test (and other similar over the counter antigen tests) typically detect positive cases with success in the range of 75-90%. This means if you're actually COVID positive, antigen tests like this will detect that 75-90% of the time. The other 10-25% of the time, you'll show up as negative ("false negative"). Importantly, this is why most of these tests come as two packs... your best defense against these false negative rates is to take two or more tests. The chance of two tests *both* screwing up/showing up negative if you're actually infected with COVID drops from 10-25% to ~1-6%.

The rate of false positives on these tests are *much* lower at 1.5%. If the test shows positive, you're probably positive... I'd still strongly suggest following up with a PCR test anyways, which many states offer at drive-up clinics and sites or, if you're going through a doc for monitoring and/or treatment, *should* automatically be offered as part of their monitoring.

Antigen tests aren't the end all, but they're cheap and they're very fast. As long as you keep those caveats in mind, they can be an incredibly useful first line of defense, ease the burden on our medical infrastructure, and have saved us many sleepless nights. I wish they were freely given out to every American as a "quick and dirty" test to help when coughs and sniffles pop up.