{"id":447411,"date":"2022-05-15T15:33:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-15T12:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/why-at-home-covid-19-tests-may-limit-the-way-the-u-s-tracks-new-cases\/"},"modified":"2022-05-15T15:33:00","modified_gmt":"2022-05-15T12:33:00","slug":"why-at-home-covid-19-tests-may-limit-the-way-the-u-s-tracks-new-cases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/why-at-home-covid-19-tests-may-limit-the-way-the-u-s-tracks-new-cases\/","title":{"rendered":"#: Why at-home COVID-19 tests may limit the way the U.S. tracks new cases"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a40e037692fe\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a40e037692fe\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/why-at-home-covid-19-tests-may-limit-the-way-the-u-s-tracks-new-cases\/#%E2%80%9C_Why_at-home_COVID-19_tests_may_limit_the_way_the_US_tracks_new_cases%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;: Why at-home COVID-19 tests may limit the way the U.S. tracks new cases&#8221;<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-2' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/why-at-home-covid-19-tests-may-limit-the-way-the-u-s-tracks-new-cases\/#That_means_our_understanding_of_current_%E2%80%94_or_future_%E2%80%94_waves_of_the_virus_is_weaker_than_its_been_in_the_past\" >That means our understanding of current \u2014 or future \u2014 waves of the virus is weaker than it\u2019s been in the past.<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-4' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-4'><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-4' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/why-at-home-covid-19-tests-may-limit-the-way-the-u-s-tracks-new-cases\/#Jaimy_Lee\" >Jaimy Lee<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9C_Why_at-home_COVID-19_tests_may_limit_the_way_the_US_tracks_new_cases%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>&#8220;: Why at-home COVID-19 tests may limit the way the U.S. tracks new cases&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<h2 class=\"article__subhead\" itemprop=\"alternativeHeadline\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"That_means_our_understanding_of_current_%E2%80%94_or_future_%E2%80%94_waves_of_the_virus_is_weaker_than_its_been_in_the_past\"><\/span>\n  That means our understanding of current \u2014 or future \u2014 waves of the virus is weaker than it\u2019s been in the past.<br \/>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"column column--full article__content\">\n<div class=\"article__side\">\n<div class=\"container--sticky not-active\">\n<div id=\"cx-next\" data-nosnippet>\n              <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"js-article__body\" class=\"article__body article-wrap at16-col16 barrons-article-wrap\" itemprop=\"articleBody\" data-sbid=\"WP-MKTW-0000852382\" role=\"document\">\n<div class=\"barrons-article-ad-wrapper\">\n<div data-track=\"barrons-article-ad-wrap\" class=\"barrons-article-ad sticky_item\">\n<div class=\"barrons-main-article-ad-target sticky_target body_ad\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div data-layout=\"\n                inline\" data-layout-mobile=\"\" class=\"\n          media-object\n          type-InsetArticleReader\n              \n              inline\n  article__inset\n          article__inset--type-InsetArticleReader\n              article__inset--inline\n  \"><\/p>\n<div class=\"media-object-article-reader\">\n<div class=\"audioplayer\" data-sbid=\"WP-MKTW-0000852382\" role=\"region\" aria-label=\"Listen to Article\" tabindex=\"-1\" id=\"articlereader\" data-show-title=\"false\" data-theme=\"wsj-article-reader\" data-show-header=\"false\" data-show-subscribe=\"false\" data-ads-enabled=\"true\" data-save-publication=\"false\">\n        <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>       The majority of people in the U.S. who are testing positive for the coronavirus right now likely aren\u2019t being included in official case counts, and that means our understanding of current \u2014 or future \u2014 waves of the virus is weaker than it\u2019s been in the past.<\/p>\n<p> For the week ending May 7, there were an estimated two positive COVID-19 laboratory tests for every five positive at-home tests, which largely go unreported. <\/p>\n<div class=\"paywall\">\n       The crowdsourced data comes from Outbreaks Near Me, a site that gathers voluntary information from individuals to identify COVID-19 hot spots through a partnership with Momentive<br \/>\n        MNTV,<br \/>\n        <bg-quote field=\"percentchange\" format=\"0,000.00%\" channel=\"\/zigman2\/quotes\/204753223\/composite\" class=\"positive\">+7.20%<\/bg-quote><span>,<\/span><br \/>\n       the company that owns SurveyMonkey.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA couple of weeks ago, we had a shift, where more people are now testing positive with the at-home tests than all other testing combined,\u201d said Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and chief innovation officer at Boston Children\u2019s Hospital. (Outbreaks Near Me is a project that came out of his laboratory at the hospital.)<\/p>\n<p>The widespread availability of at-home tests has been a good thing for Americans. Ever since the start of this year, when the Biden administration made at-home COVID-19 tests available free to American households, they\u2019ve become part of our everyday lives. Boxes of BinaxNow and FlowFlex are stacked near pharmacy checkout lines. A certain number of tests can be reimbursed by insurance. And fewer people are waiting in long lines for a PCR test or days to get a result.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But there\u2019s downsides to these tests. Because there is no easy way to report results to local or state governments, this data isn\u2019t often included in official case tallies, which are used to calculate positivity rates and can serve as an indicator of the amount of virus in a community.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe more that people start to use these tests, the more that it will create this further gap between what public health knows and is able to respond to and what\u2019s actually h<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ening on the ground,\u201d Brownstein said. <\/p>\n<div data-layout=\"inline\n                \" data-layout-mobile=\"\" class=\"\n          media-object\n          type-InsetMediaIllustration\n            inline\n  article__inset\n          article__inset--type-InsetMediaIllustration\n            article__inset--inline\n  \"><\/p>\n<figure class=\"\n        media-object-image\n        enlarge-image\n        img-inline\n        article__inset__image\n      \" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:80.42857142857143%;\" data-subtype=\"photo\" class=\"image-container  responsive-media article__inset__image__image\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.mktw.net\/im-543195?width=540&amp;size=1.2439261418853256 540w, https:\/\/images.mktw.net\/im-543195?width=620&amp;size=1.2439261418853256 620w, https:\/\/images.mktw.net\/im-543195?width=639&amp;size=1.2439261418853256 639w, https:\/\/images.mktw.net\/im-543195?width=700&amp;size=1.2439261418853256 700w, https:\/\/images.mktw.net\/im-543195?width=700&amp;size=1.2439261418853256&amp;pixel_ratio=1.5 1050w, https:\/\/images.mktw.net\/im-543195?width=700&amp;size=1.2439261418853256&amp;pixel_ratio=2 1400w, https:\/\/images.mktw.net\/im-543195?width=700&amp;size=1.2439261418853256&amp;pixel_ratio=3 2100w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 639px) 100vw, (max-width: 979px) 620px, (max-width: 1299px) 540px, 700px\" src=\"https:\/\/images.mktw.net\/im-543195?width=700&amp;height=563\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\n      <\/div><figcaption class=\"wsj-article-caption article__inset__image__caption\" itemprop=\"caption\">\n          <span class=\"wsj-article-credit article__inset__image__caption__credit\" itemprop=\"creator\"><br \/>\n            The number of new COVID-19 cases in New England is rising, though many of those infections are not being included on official case counts because they were detected using at-home tests. Source: OutbreaksNearMe and Momentive<br \/>\n          <\/span><br \/>\n  <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>       <strong>A new wave?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The number of new infections in the U.S. has doubled over the past month due to the spread of <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AshishKJha46\/status\/1523350840202854400\" class=\"icon none\">BA.2 and BA.2.12.1<\/a> \u2014 both subvariants of omicron. The U.S. reported about 161,000 new cases on Wednesday, the largest number of new daily infections over the past three months and largely driven by an increase in cases in the Northeast, according to <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2021\/us\/covid-cases.html?name=styln-coronavirus&amp;region=TOP_BANNER&amp;block=storyline_menu_recirc&amp;action=click&amp;pgtype=LegacyCollection&amp;variant=show&amp;is_new=false\" class=\"icon none\">the New York Times case tracker<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re probably in the midst of a large surge,\u201d said Dr. Michael Mina, a former Harvard University epidemiologist who is now the chief <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/sciencee\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"5\" title=\"Science\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">science<\/a> officer at eMed, which connects at-home tests with telehealth services. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing right now rates that are higher than any other time in the pandemic, with the exception of during the very, very, very peak of omicron.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"cx-membership-tile\"><\/div>\n<p>The U.S. first saw a <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2022-03-14\/are-covid-cases-going-back-up-sewer-data-has-potential-warning\" class=\"icon none\">signal in wastewater surveillance that COVID-19 cases were rising<\/a> around mid-March. Then the number of new infections begin to climb around <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AshishKJha46\/status\/1523350840202854400\" class=\"icon none\">mid-to-late March<\/a>. Hospitalizations, which tend to lag cases, recently began ticking up and have increased 20% over the last two weeks, according to the Times tracker. Death rates, which usually tail hospitalizations by a few weeks, are still low, with about 320 new deaths being reported every day.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Mina, who has long been a proponent of at-home testing during the pandemic, now sees two problems with at-home tests. <\/p>\n<p>Not only are the results not often included in official case counts, people who do find out they have tested positive for the virus are sometimes unclear what to do next. They may wait to seek care until it\u2019s time to be hospitalized or miss the window to be prescribed the antiviral Paxlovid, which should be started within five days of symptoms.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople just aren\u2019t acting upon their self test, and they\u2019re also not reporting so it\u2019s kind of a double whammy,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Other changes to how the U.S. tests for COVID-19<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The increasing use of at-home tests is one reason why official case counts may not reflect a more accurate tally of new infections, but there are several other factors that are influencing the perception of COVID-19 prevalence right now.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul class=\"articleList\">\n<li>\n      The government in March <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hrsa.gov\/CovidUninsuredClaim\" class=\"icon none\">stopped paying for tests for uninsured Americans<\/a>, a decision that prompted Quest Diagnostics Inc.<br \/>\n        DGX,<br \/>\n        <bg-quote field=\"percentchange\" format=\"0,000.00%\" channel=\"\/zigman2\/quotes\/201001842\/composite\" class=\"positive\">+0.22%<\/bg-quote><br \/>\n       to begin asking for payment upfront from those individuals. (\u201cAs a result, we\u2019ve seen a decline in our uninsured COVID-19 molecular testing volumes in late March and into April,\u201d the CEO recently said.)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul class=\"articleList\">\n<li>\n      Most states this spring changed how often they report COVID-19 information, according to a <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/d41586-022-00788-y\" class=\"icon none\">Nature editorial<\/a> published in March. Washington, D.C., hasn\u2019t reported infection data to the CDC for two weeks, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/dc-md-va\/2022\/05\/09\/dc-covid-case-counts-stopped\/\" class=\"icon none\">according to the Washington Post<\/a>, and Florida now reports COVID-19 data every two weeks.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul class=\"articleList\">\n<li>\n      And, finally, there\u2019s pandemic fatigue. Experts say some people are no longer worried about testing as local and state governments have lifted mask mandates and milder infections among the vaccinated and boosted have been reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>So, why does it matter?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Public-health experts say that there is an additional concern to consider: the U.S. uses samples gathered from PCR tests to conduct genomic surveillance of the virus. This is how we identify new variants.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ll have gaps in our ability to see a new variant emerge here,\u201d Brownstein said.\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"byline article__byline\">\n<p>    <span>By<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"author mobile-scrim hasMenu\" data-scrim='{\"type\":\"author\",\"header\":\"Jaimy Lee\",\"subhead\":\"The Wall Street Journal\",\"list\":[{\"type\":\"link\",\"icon\":\"bio\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.marketwatch.com\/topics\/journalists\/jaimy-lee\",\"text\":\"Biography\"},{\"type\":\"link\",\"icon\":\"twitter\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jaimy_lee\",\"text\":\"@jaimy_lee\"}]}' itemscope itemprop=\"author\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Person\">\n<h4 itemprop=\"name\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Jaimy_Lee\"><\/span>Jaimy Lee<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<p><ufc-follow-author-widget product=\"marketwatch\" author-id=\"76_MW\" author-name=\"Jaimy Lee\" signin-url=\"https:\/\/accounts.marketwatch.com\/login?target=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.marketwatch.com%2Fstory%2Fwhy-at-home-covid-19-tests-may-limit-the-way-the-u-s-tracks-new-cases-11652443224%3Frss%3D1%26siteid%3Drss\" panda-api=\"https:\/\/follow-api.marketwatch.com\"><\/ufc-follow-author-widget><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.marketwatch.com\/news\/story.asp?guid=%7B20C05575-04D4-B545-7D01-9E6A22B1B6E9%7D&#038;siteid=rss&#038;rss=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;: Why at-home COVID-19 tests may limit the way the U.S. tracks new cases&#8221; That means our understanding of current \u2014 or future \u2014 waves of the virus is weaker than it\u2019s been in the past. The majority of people in the U.S. who are testing positive for the coronavirus right now likely aren\u2019t being&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":447412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.mktw.net\/im-540594\/social","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-447411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=447411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/447412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}