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COVID-19 rapid antigen tests that expired this spring can still be used to accurately detect a COVID infection for the next couple of months, according to the British Columbia Ministry of Health.

Tests that show an expiration date of April 2024 were given a six-month extension by Health Canada. These tests will be “safe and effective” until at least October, the ministry told The Tyee in an email.

As of July 14, the provincial government had around 900,000 COVID-19 rapid antigen tests sitting in storage, the ministry said.

Tests are stored at provincial warehouses and pharmacy distributor inventories and “many” of the tests are stamped with an April 2024 expiry date, it continued.

The ministry said it would continue to distribute the tests free of charge through community pharmacies and by request to groups such as long-term care and assisted living facilities and organizations with clinically extremely vulnerable people, such as BC Cancer patients.

These tests will be distributed “for the upcoming respiratory season” and the government will “procure tests as necessary,” the ministry said.

The ministry added that it is working collaboratively with Health Canada to “explore options” for how to manage expiring tests.

It’s important to stay home when you’re sick and to stay away from others, especially people who are immunocompromised or seniors, until you are feeling better, the ministry added.

Anyone experiencing a viral illness should rest until they feel healthy enough to participate in their regular daily activities and they no longer have a fever (including a fever they are effectively managing with medications like Tylenol).

But just because a rapid antigen test did not find COVID doesn’t mean it’s not there.

At least one company that produced rapid antigen tests has been caught fudging the data on how accurate its test was.

The BTNX rapid antigen tests could detect a highly infectious COVID infection but were less dependable in other cases, according to reporting by Global News.

This meant the test was more likely to find false negatives, where the test said a person did not have COVID when they actually did.

This test did not produce false positives. In other words, if a person took the test and it said they had COVID, it was accurate.

Even if a person tests negative, they should stay home until symptoms go away, the ministry said.

COVID rapid antigen tests are not designed for at-home use for kids five and under. If the nose swab is done by someone other than a health-care provider, it can injure a child’s nose, the ministry added.

— This story was originally published by The Tyee.

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