Letters to the Editor

Letter: Rapid test issue

Like many Alaskans, I just received an email from Congressman Don Young’s office, letting me know about new options to acquire antigen test kits for at-home COVID-19 testing. I’ve left a message with Rep. Young and our senators about this, but want to alert other Alaskans to the fact that the National Institute of Health has found a high rate of false negatives when these rapid tests are used after being exposed to temperatures below 2 degrees C, or about 35º F. That will be likely for many kits mailed to home addresses in most of Alaska in January. Below-freezing exposure of the tests could not only render the results meaningless, but dangerous, because a false negative will lead many people to assume they are not infected when in fact they are.

While I appreciate the work done by the federal government and our delegation to get these tests into consumers’ hands, we need a way to ensure the tests are kept consistently above 35 degrees F before they are used. My own mailbox is more than a mile from my house, and on a cold day, it’s unlikely I will be able to retrieve mailed kits before they freeze.

— Cassie Thomas

Anchorage

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