# COVID Test Expiration Dates Extended

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-test-expiration-dates-extended/990674>\
**Category:** The Quarantine Zone\
**Tags:** covid-quarantine\
**Created:** [September 25, 2023, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-test-expiration-dates-extended/990674 "2023-09-25T12:45:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2023, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-test-expiration-dates-extended/990674/1 "2023-09-25T12:45:13Z")

</div>

My son recently tested positive, so I looked through my various tests that I’ve gathered over time and noticed that a lot of them are expired. However, the FDA is now extending the expiration date for lots of the tests:

[https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/coronavirus-covid-19-and-medical-devices/home-otc-covid-19-diagnostic-tests#list](https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/coronavirus-covid-19-and-medical-devices/home-otc-covid-19-diagnostic-tests#list)

I imagine they kept the expiration dates short initially, since they no one knew how long they would work, but more data has come in. Anyway, take a look before you throw away all of your expired tests!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2023, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-test-expiration-dates-extended/990674/2 "2023-09-25T18:14:10Z")

</div>

This was really useful a few weeks ago when my daughter and I were exposed to three people who had Covid. We had a bunch of “expired” tests, but when I looked them up online, only four of them were past the extended dates (we used the ones that were only a couple of weeks past it). I’m assuming they were fine; the control stripes came up normally, but we didn’t get a positive result. Neither of us got sick, either, so that’s good enough for me!

The whole home test situation frustrates me a bit. If you test positive, you have Covid and need to isolate. But if it’s negative, well, you’ll need to keep quarantining and retesting for ten days because while a positive result is conclusive, a negative one isn’t.