What can cause a false positive COVID-19 rapid antigen test? The investigators also point out that false-positives are possible due to administering the test too early or late in the infectious stage, or from incorrectly performing the self-test.
What are consequences of a false negative COVID-19 test? Risks to a patient of a false negative test result include: delayed or lack of supportive treatment, lack of monitoring of infected individuals and their household or other close contacts for symptoms resulting in increased risk of spread of COVID-19 within the community, or other unintended adverse events.
What could be the cause of a false negative COVID-19 antibody test result? Having an antibody test too early can lead to false negative results. That’s because it takes a week or two after infection for your immune system to produce antibodies.
Related Questions
What is a false positive rate for a virus test?
The false positive rate — that is, how often the test says you have the virus when you actually do not — should be close to zero. Most false-positive results are thought to be due to lab contamination or other problems with how the lab has performed the test, not limitations of the test itself.