www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov By Kelly Johnson-Arbor, MD,a,b,â Nicole Reid, BSN, EdM,b,c and Susan Smolinske, PharmDd,e
The persistence of the COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated the development and widespread availability of methods to detect the COVID-19 virus in humans. COVID-19 tests, which were initially only available in healthcare facility settings, are now manufactured for home use in the form of rapid diagnostic tests and generally contain a nasal swab, reagent solution, and test device (e.g., card or strip). These kits typically involve application of reagent solution to the test device; in the presence of biological material obtained from the nasal swab, this initiates a chemical reaction that produces the test result…
