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Home Tests Are Messing Up Our COVID-19 Data

Almost no one reports a positive home test. I didn’t either.

Clive Thompson

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“Rapid test kit” by Marco Verch

Three weeks ago my wife and I got hit with breakthrough cases of COVID-19.

We started shivering one night as we went to bed. Within the next 24 hours, we’d both spiked fevers and had terrible full-body aches. We pulled out some home COVID-19 tests, swabbed our noses, and duly waited the fifteen minutes.

Sure enough, two lines. We’re both double-vaxxed and boosted, but the latest Omicron variant is just that nastily virulent.

We didn’t need hospitalization, but damn, it was a rough haul for a full week. No respiratory issues, thankfully, but those body aches and fevers lasted for about three days. When those ended, a cluster of gnarly head-cold symptoms emerged for another two days, with miserable sneezing and a torrent of phlegm. Just as that eased up? We both developed a spikingly painful sore throat that lasted another two days. Plus deep, deep fatigue.

We did everything you’re supposed to. We fortunately have a finished basement level on our house, so we isolated from our teenage kids (who never caught our cases, thankfully). We ate a lot of chicken soup and took it as easy as we could. When our symptoms finally eased, we waited 10 days and until we had negative…

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Clive Thompson
Clive Thompson

Written by Clive Thompson

I write 2X a week on tech, science, culture — and how those collide. Writer at NYT mag/Wired; author, “Coders”. @clive@saturation.social clive@clivethompson.net

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