These rapid tests, they look for proteins on the surface of the virus. So what that means is you really need to have the virus in a very accessible part of the body in order to actually test that. The virus has to be in your upper airways, in your nose, at detectable levels in order to show up.
The omicron variant is very transmissible, but it might make Covid-19 less miserable.
Today’s show was produced by Miles Bryan with help from Hady Mawajdeh, edited by Matt Collette, engineered by Efim Shapiro, fact-checked by Laura Bullard and hosted by Haleema Shah.
Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained
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