“Day three, day four, day five, they work much better.” Researchers suspect that initial viral loads are suppressed in vaccinated people infected with omicron, so antigen tests can’t detect the virus until a few days into infection. “It does not appear the antigen tests are working well in the vaccinated population with omicron on day one or day two (of symptoms),” he says. Omicron seems to affect when viral levels are high enough to show up on an antigen test in vaccinated people, Dr. Antigen tests, on the other hand, are only effective when an adequate amount of virus is present. Garner says.Ī PCR test can detect remnants of the virus long after symptoms have resolved and the contagious period has passed, he adds. “The PCR test is exquisitely sensitive, meaning it can get down to finding the lowest amount of virus that’s there,” Dr. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests identify genetic material from the virus, and must be performed in a lab. These look for a protein component of the virus. rapid antigen testĪntigen tests are the rapid tests available for at-home use. This makes testing all the more important, but the next challenge might be finding a test. So, if you’re vaccinated and experiencing what seem like ordinary cold symptoms, it could actually be COVID. Garner says, is “why our numbers are going up so high.” People who think they have a simple cold are not taking the necessary precautions to avoid spreading the disease. Garner says, “you have a variant that appears to behave more like a cold virus in the vaccinated population.” “Because you basically have a person who is immune to serious disease and partially immune to getting symptoms,” Dr. Instead of fever, an omicron infection in vaccinated individuals is likely to manifest as cold-like symptoms, such as congestion and runny nose. Garner says, but that’s not the case with omicron in people who’ve been vaccinated. Garner says, which affects the need for, and timing of, testing.įever used to be a major indicator of a potential COVID infection, Dr. The now-dominant omicron variant presents differently in vaccinated and boosted individuals than previous variants, Dr. “Omicron and the vaccines have changed things,” Dr. The prevalence of the omicron variant also changes the way the virus presents in vaccinated individuals – and appears to affect when home tests are most effective at detecting the disease, says Omai Garner, PhD, director of clinical microbiology for UCLA Health.
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