There are still lots of practical reasons to test for COVID if you have any symptoms or an exposure. Knowledge is power!
There is STILL lots of COVID around. While the bad summer surge may have peaked, back-to-school means lots of new opportunities for transmission that may slow the decline in cases.
You may find yourself with a scratch in your throat, or some congestion, and wonder—do I really need to test for COVID? What difference does it make?
Here are 3 good reasons to go ahead and test for COVID-19:
1) Preventing spread to others: Knowing you have COVID means you can take precautions to limit your chances of passing it along to someone else. This is especially important if you have regular contact with older people or others with a higher risk for severe disease. With COVID, maintaining isolation and precautions until you test negative is the best way to ensure you don’t pass your infection along to anyone else.
2) The opportunity for treatment: Testing positive means you can seek out antiviral treatments like Paxlovid that significantly reduce your risk of ending up in the hospital or dying. If you are over age 50 or have another risk factor, don’t hesitate to seek treatment. Check out the US Test to Treat program here.
3) Timing your next COVID vaccine: A LOT of people have gotten COVID this summer. We also have updated COVID vaccines now available that we know many readers are keen to get ASAP. But if you’ve had a recent COVID infection, it’s best to wait at least 3 months before getting your updated shot. After an infection, your antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 are already very high, so getting the vaccine too soon won’t give you more protection (like trying to top off a full gas tank). Waiting at least 3 months means you can extend your protection much longer through the winter season. This means knowing that you had COVID can help you optimize the timing of that updated shot. If you don’t test, you lose that chance to know when your most recent infection was and time your vaccines accordingly. (Thanks to Rachel Gutman-Wei for making this important point recently in The Atlantic.)
BOTTOM LINE: There are still lots of practical reasons to test for COVID if you have any symptoms or an exposure. Knowledge is power!
And yes, the tests still work for new variants (but you should test again if you have symptoms but test negative).
And some good news—the US will once again provide several free tests for all households starting in late September.
Stay safe, stay well.
