We just got back from a trip and would like to get tested prior to seeing family over the holidays.

https://www.kbtx.com/2020/12/15/free-covid-19-testing-available-in-brazos-county-until-end-of-2020/

bigtruckguy3500 said:

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Be mindful of the fact that a test a has a high likelihood of being negative in the first 7 days after exposure.

A negative test might not be as reassuring as you think it is.

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Do you have any literature on that? I thought the ideal time to test was within 5-7 days of exposure?

AgsMyDude said:

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bigtruckguy3500 said:

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Be mindful of the fact that a test a has a high likelihood of being negative in the first 7 days after exposure.

A negative test might not be as reassuring as you think it is.

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Do you have any literature on that? I thought the ideal time to test was within 5-7 days of exposure?

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https://www.acc.org/latest-in-cardiology/journal-scans/2020/05/18/13/42/variation-in-false-negative-rate-of-reverse

Quote:

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Over the 4 days of infection before the typical time of symptom onset (day 5), the probability of a false-negative result in an infected person decreased from 100% (95% confidence interval [CI], 100%-100%) on day 1 to 67% (CI, 27%-94%) on day 4. On the day of symptom onset, the median false-negative rate was 38% (CI, 18%-65%). This decreased to 20% (CI, 12%-30%) on day 8 (3 days after symptom onset) then began to increase again, from 21% (CI, 13%-31%) on day 9 to 66% (CI, 54%-77%) on day 21. The false-negative rate was minimized 8 days after exposurethat is, 3 days after the onset of symptoms on average.

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https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2015897

We just went to see my sister in law in New Mexico for 5 days, got there Thursday. Turns out she has Covid. My wife and daughter just went here in Austin and got tested, came back negative. I don't feel like this really tells us much according to the info above, wife all set to see her 86 yr old Mom now for Christmas eve. I have my doubts. Nobody with symptoms, 18 yr old son had it in June, he was only one in family with symptoms.