How to Use COVID-19 Testing and Quarantining to Safely Travel for the Holidays

How to Use COVID-19 Testing and Quarantining to Safely Travel for the Holidays

With the holidays approaching, many people are considering whether to visit relatives or friends in the coming weeks. At the same time, cases of COVID-19 are surging toward the highest levels since the beginning of the pandemic. As a physician, daughter of vulnerable seniors and mother of young adults, I have been thinking a lot about whether testing will help me decide if it’s safe to see my family.


Testing may help you to make sure you and your loved ones stay healthy, but COVID-19 testing is not as simple as yes or no, infected or safe. There are many factors to keep in mind when using a coronavirus test to plan your holiday travels safely.


Some Tests Are Better than Others


Broadly speaking, there are two categories of tests.


Antibody tests – which look for evidence of previous infection – can’t tell you whether you currently have COVID-19 and aren’t useful for planning to visit family.


The other category of tests look for evidence of the virus in your body. There are two types of these viral tests available – RT–PCR tests and rapid antigen tests – and these are the ones to use when trying to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.


No lab test for COVID-19 is 100% accurate. Although false positives are certainly not a good thing, a false negative result – testing negative w ..

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