Middletown Doctor: Rapid COVID Tests Give False Sense Of Security

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — A doctor at a well-known network of primary and urgent care centers in the Bayshore has a message: Stop going on vacations, and to baby showers and weddings ... and then demanding a rapid COVID test when you come home.

That's because a rapid COVID test, while fast, is the least accurate of what's on the market right now. The rapid test is looking for symptoms of COVID, which can take up to two weeks to develop if someone has been exposed.

"A rapid test in most people gives a false sense of security," said Dr. Roger Thompson, one of the head doctors at IMA Family Practice of Middletown. "It's not a very accurate test in people who don't have symptoms."

The problem is that rapid COVID antigen tests — the ones where you get results in 15 minutes or less — can give a lot of false negatives.

"We've gotten spoiled by the concept of this rapid test. They are not being explained properly and not being used properly. You could end up having it, but you got a false negative and you walked away and now you're spreading it."

Weddings and funerals are the biggest COVID spreaders he's seeing right now, he said.

"We're not making this up. I've had to test people who went on vacation to Florida. They decided to travel and now they come back and demand the rapid test," he said. "These people are wasting the test. The demand is a little unrealistic."

Also, the demand for rapid COVID tests right now is "incredible." IMA has clinics in Red Bank, Shrewsbury, Hazlet, Middletown and Chapel Hill.

"We have people lining up outside our doors before the office opens at 7 a.m.," he said on Friday. "And if we run out of tests, they get angry — really angry. I was just down at a center today and everyone was screaming for the rapid test. Well, we had 60 rapid tests to get through the weekend. That won't last a day."

It's important to understand the two types of COVID tests: First, there is the standard PCR test, which stands for polymerase chain reaction. Both the rapid and the PCR test are done via nasal swab. The PCR test looks for the virus' genetic material in your body and is very accurate. Even if there is a small amount of the COVID virus in someone, the PCR test can detect it.

It just takes a few days to get results. And nobody wants to wait that long.

"Then there is the rapid test," said Dr. Thompson. "That's looking for antigens. It's less specific than the PCR test, but it is good if you have symptoms."

Those are the key words: A rapid test should only be done on someone with symptoms.

The problem is that right now, as cases surge in United States, is that everyone wants to know if they have it — regardless of whether they have symptoms or not.

And this "demand to know" usually comes right after someone has engaged in risky behavior.

"We have people coming in saying, 'I just went to a baby shower; it was 30 people sitting inside a room. No masks.' Or I went to a wedding; there were only 50 of us," said the physician.

Dr. Thompson said the message he wants to get out to the community is just stay home. Don't be in big groups of people. Wear a mask. And if you think you've been exposed, don't rush to get a test. The smartest thing to do is just stay home, avoid others and wait to see if symptoms truly do develop.

That's the only way you'll know if you truly have COVID.

"And in the end, whether it's COVID, the flu or a cold, the treatment for most is still the same: Chicken soup and turn on the Hallmark channel. There's no treatment for the flu; there's no treatment for COVID."

Dr. Thompson grew up in Middletown, graduated from Middletown High School and returned to the area after medical school to continue his practice and raise his family here. He lives in Middletown with his wife and children. When he's not treating patients in Monmouth County, he's a part-time ski physician on the slopes of Vermont.

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