Omicron Virus Arrival Significantly Spiked At-Home Testing

The U.S. CDC recently confirmed COVID-19 testing offers insights to make more informed care discussions and identifies opportunities for appropriate treatments.

And with the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617.2 (Delta) and B.1.1.529 (Omicron) virus variants, consumer demand for at-home tests measurably increased.

At-home test use peaked in January 2022, with 11% of the surveyed population reporting at-home test use within the preceding 30 days.

This sudden increase compared with 2% in October 2021 and 7.5% in March 2022.

Among persons with COVID-19–like illness, at-home test use increased from an average of 5.7% during the Delta-predominant period to 20.1% during the Omicron-predominant period.

As of March 25, 2022, the surveyed population cited the most common reported reasons for at-home test use:

• risk assessments, such as COVID-19 exposure concerns (39.4%) and,
• experiencing self-assessed COVID-19 symptoms (28.9%).

The CDC stated on March 25, 2022, 'at-home rapid COVID-19 antigen tests (at-home tests) are a convenient and accessible alternative to laboratory-based diagnostic nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.'

'Providing reliable and low-cost or free at-home test kits to underserved populations with otherwise limited access to COVID-19 testing could assist with continued prevention efforts.'

Additional COVID-19 testing news is posted at CoronavirusToday.com/tests.

Note: The CDC report was edited for clarity and manually curated for mobile readers.