Growing use of home Covid-19 tests leaves health agencies in the dark about unreported cases
When fans of the band Phish started falling ill with Covid-19 all over the country after a Halloween concert weekend in Las Vegas, public health officials were largely in the dark about what appears to have been a superspreader event. In a Facebook post from mid-November with hundreds of responses, concertgoers compared symptoms and positive test results, many of those from tests taken at home. But those data weren’t added to state public health tallies of Covid’s spread.
It’s a story that’s becoming commonplace in the era of rapid home Covid testing: People who test positive are almost never counted by public health agencies charged with bringing the pandemic to heel. While home tests have distinct advantages — they’re convenient and quickly inform people of their infection status so they can take steps to avoid spread the virus — most who test positive don’t come to the attention of health officials unless they are sick enough to see a doctor.
