For those experiencing COVID symptoms or who have been exposed to the virus, at-home COVID test kits are an easy way to detect negative or positive COVID cases. However, all at-home COVID tests, including the free ones sent out from the federal government by the United States Postal Service, are only good to use through a certain date.
According to the Food Drug Administration, at-home COVID tests have both a specific shelf-life, and a specific expiration date.
"The shelf-life is how long the test should perform as expected and is measured from the date the test was manufactured," the FDA says. "The expiration date listed on the box label for at-home COVID-19 tests is set at the end of the shelf-life, and is the date through which the test is expected to perform as accurately as when manufactured.
Typically, the FDA authorizes an at-home COVID shelf-life of about four to six months from the time the test was made, the agency says.
However, once the test manufacturer has more "stability testing results," such as 12 or 18 months, the test manufacturer can contact the FDA to request that the agency authorize a longer shelf-life.
According to the FDA, stability testing is "where the manufacturer stores the tests for the time period of the proposed shelf-life (plus a little extra time to ensure the expiration date can be relied upon) and then evaluates its ability to perform accurately."
Then, after reviewing the results of the testing, the FDA can choose to extend the kit's expiration date.
Here's a look at all the at-home COVID tests the CDC says are approved by the FDA, and the shelf life of each kit.
- BinaxNOW COVID-19 Ag Card Home Test, 15 months
- BinaxNOW COVID-19 Antigen Self Test, 15 months
- CareStart COVID-19 Antigen Home Test (alternate name is "on/go"), 12 months
- Flowflex COVID-19 Antigen Home Test, 16 months
- BD Veritor At-Home COVID-19 Test, 6 months
- Celltrion DiaTrust COVID-19 Ag Home Test, 18 months
- Cue COVID-19 Test for Home and Over The Counter (OTC) Use, 4 months
- Detect Covid-19 Test, 12 months
- Ellume COVID-19 Home Test, 12 months
- Genabio COVID-19 Rapid Self-Test Kit, 18 months
- iHealth COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test (alternate name is "Good to Know"), 12 months
- SCoV-2 Ag Detect Rapid Self-Test, 13 months
- Lucira CHECK-IT COVID-19 Test Kit, 18 months
- MaximBio ClearDetect COVID-19 Antigen Home Test, 8 months
- InteliSwab COVID-19 Rapid Test, 12 months
- OHC COVID-19 Antigen Self Test, 8 months
- INDICAID COVID-19 Rapid Antigen At-Home Test, 12 months
- QuickVue At-Home OTC COVID-19 Test, 12 months
- Pilot COVID-19 At-Home Test 1, 9 months
- CLINITEST Rapid COVID-19 Antigen Self-Test, 11 months
- Speedy Swab Rapid COVID-19 Antigen Self-Test, 6 months
- Rapid SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Test Card, 6 months
According to the FDA, the expiration date of each varies, and should be listed on the box.
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While the CDC asserts "positive results from self-tests are highly reliable," it admits negative results may not necessarily rule out infection, particularly in those who are symptomatic.
And, under revised guidance from the FDA, individuals who have been exposed to COVID-19 may need to take as many as three at-home tests to ensure that they are not experiencing asymptomatic infections.
According to the CDC, tests do not need to be taken only by those experiencing symptoms. And while there is currently no requirement to test out of isolation after having COVID, Chicago's top doctor has warned that the new BA.5 omicron subvariant is making people test positive longer.
"So just a reminder if you catch COVID, regardless of your vaccination status, you need to stay home for five days," Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said during a recent Facebook live update.
"If your symptoms are resolving, are gone by day five, you can leave your house, but you must continue to mask while around others for days six to 10. We're seeing some examples, especially with the BA.4 and [BA.5] of people testing positive for longer, occasionally testing negative and then positive again later."
