/oss/taxonomy/term/5895/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/navigating-false-negatives-covid-rapid-tests <hr /> <p><em>This article was originally posted in the <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/christopher-labos-navigating-false-negatives-on-covid-rapid-tests">Montreal Gazette</a>.</em></p> Tue, 05 Apr 2022 19:04:40 +0000 Christopher Labos MD, MSc 9073 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/ruminations-rapid-tests <p>To test or not to test, that is the question, to steal a line from Shakespeare. Actually, when to test is a more important query because there is no doubt that appropriate testing of the population can cut down infections by identifying people who may be a threat to others and advising them to self-isolate. The gold standard for detecting the presence of the virus in secretions is the so-called polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test which identifies genetic material from the virus. It does this very well, capable of picking up infection just a couple of days after exposure to the virus.</p> Thu, 23 Dec 2021 23:53:20 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 8962 at /oss