/oss/taxonomy/term/5063/all en /oss/article/covid-19-medical/what-if-your-covid-tests-are-expired <hr /> <p><em>This article was originally posted in the</em> <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/christopher-labos-what-if-your-covid-tests-are-expired"><em>Montreal Gazette.</em></a></p> <hr /> <p>With COVID-19 cases on the rise again, many people were shocked to discover that rapid tests are no longer available at pharmacies. Having blissfully ignored the problem for the past several months, many were left wondering how to get tested and whether their old tests were still effective or were now expired.</p> Fri, 13 Oct 2023 10:00:00 +0000 Christopher Labos MD, MSc 9688 at /oss /oss/article/covid-19/can-you-fool-covid-rapid-test-putting-vaseline-your-nostrils <p>This notion emerged after some partiers on a flight chartered by a private Quebec club allegedly planned to trick a COVID rapid antigen test to produce a negative result. Their idea was to prevent the swab from picking up the virus by providing a Vaseline barrier. Whether they actually tried this or just blathered nonsensically about Vaseline interfering with the test by “having no pH” isn’t clear, but it is extremely unlikely that this ruse would work. The test requires very few viral particles, and in any case, these would become embedded in the Vaseline.</p> Fri, 07 Jan 2022 21:32:06 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 8971 at /oss /oss/article/covid-19/some-things-know-about-covid-rapid-tests <hr /> <p>This article was originally posted in <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/christopher-labos-some-things-to-know-about-covid-rapid-tests">the Montreal Gazette</a></p> Thu, 30 Dec 2021 19:01:45 +0000 Christopher Labos MD, MSc 8967 at /oss /oss/article/covid-19-health-general-science/humans-sometimes-get-way-science <p>I never expected to read the word “glooped” in a BBC article. An<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-56556806"> investigation by the BBC programme Panorama</a> recently revealed troubling behaviour on the part of some technicians at one of the major UK COVID-19 testing laboratories. These laboratories receive the swabs that went up the nose and down the throat of potential coronavirus hosts. Technicians there must extract the genetic material present and try to amplify coronavirus-specific sequences using a test known as PCR to check for the presence of the virus.</p> Fri, 02 Apr 2021 19:50:04 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 8676 at /oss /oss/article/covid-19-health/what-optimal-length-quarantine <p> </p> <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in</em><span> </span><a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/christopher-labos-the-risks-of-mixing-driving-and-cannabis">The Montreal Gazette<span>.</span></a></p> Thu, 24 Dec 2020 14:28:07 +0000 Christopher Labos MD, MSc 8543 at /oss