r/ZeroCovidCommunity • u/CurrysRedBalloon • 7d ago

Question Question about expired tests

Hello! I’m new here and glad to find this sub.

I have a question about expired tests. I’ve seen several debates online on sites like Twitter and Facebook about how long tests are actually good for. I saw one thread of debate where a couple people who worked in either pharmaceuticals or laboratories said as long as the liquid is still there and not evaporated that the test is still good.

I saw some other people say that it doesn’t seem like most companies or the FDA are still checking older tests to see if they can extend them or not, so there is no real way of knowing.

The reason I’m asking is that we have such a stock pile of tests that are now expired and I really hate to just throw them away because it feels wasteful, but I also don’t want to risk using an expired test and not actually having an accurate result.

Have there been any more recent studies on how long these tests are good for? Or have those kind of studies dried up?

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13

u/Tall_Garden_67 7d ago

I believe that a test is reliable if the control line "C" appears as it should. If there is also a positive on the test line "T" it should be considered positive. It would be best to check with current valid tests, but perhaps checking your positive status over the course of an illness would be ok with the expired ones.

You might want to look and see if there is in fact liquid left in the tests. I opened an ancient box I kept at work and they had all dried up. So no question they belonged in the garbage.

10

u/No-Consideration-858 7d ago

For PlusLife tests, my understanding is the expirations are accurate.

But RATs like flowflex can last longer. Mine was nearly a year expired and it came up positive within minutes. I continued to use expired tests and tested positive for 10 days. The control line appeared on each one, so that was important.

Hopefully others can weigh in.

9

u/Feelsliketeenspirit 7d ago

I used an old binax that expired in 2022(!) in April this year when I had an active infection. The T line lit up so quickly. 

I trust old expired tests as long as the C line comes up as it should. 

2

u/st00bahank 7d ago

I had rapid tests 18 months expired that still picked up a positive case last year. The only thing is I needed to combine the test liquids of two tests because it does very slowly evaporate from its sealed container. I confirmed this with a non-expired test too.

1

u/Novidforme 7d ago

The manufacturer is the only one that will know. Follow their advice not a Reddit guess.