TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas — On Tuesday and Wednesday, Travis County officials were handing out free COVID-19 at-home tests so people could test ahead of the holidays, as cases are seeing an increase with omicron spreading across the nation.
But one KVUE viewer noticed his kit seemed to have expired, according to the expiration date printed on the kit he was provided.
Let's verify.
THE QUESTION
"I picked these COVID-19 rapid tests up from the Travis County Health Department, Manor Branch (600 W. Carrie Manor St. Manor, TX 78653) yesterday morning (Dec. 22, 2021). Note the expiration date."
John Long of Manor, Texas
THE SOURCES
THE ANSWER
False. This kit has not expired.
On July 16, 2021, the FDA granted an extension of the shelf-life of CareStart COVID-19 Antigen Point-of-Care tests when stored at a temperature between 1 to 30 degrees Celsius.
WHAT WE FOUND
According to the photo provided by Mr. Long, the test he was given was a CareStart COVID-19 antigen test. Dates printed on both external and internal packaging appear to show a July 2021 expiration date.
Upon visiting the CareStart website, guests are greeted with a pop-up message declaring the FDA-granted shelf-life extension for its antigen tests. That message also links to a letter published on the FDA's website to the product's manufacturer, AccessBio, granting the extension based on a real-time stability study.
Furthermore, the Texas Division of Emergency Management also published a letter on its website in regard to the extension. This letter includes a chart showing the extended shelf life for certain lot numbers and their printed shelf lives, along with their extended shelf lives.
Based on that chart, a product with a July 2021 printed shelf life would have an extended shelf life of January 2022.
Long said he was excited to take the test, but when he found out it was supposedly expired, he immediately thought about his Christmas plans.
"We've got to get together for Christmas coming up shortly," said Long. "So, we wanted the test, and they came back negative, which made us all feel great. And then I saw the expiration date on it and all of a sudden didn't feel that great anymore but ended up turning out well."
Turned out well, because the test was accurate and still not expired.
According to a press release KVUE received from Travis County on Dec. 21, we can also confirm that the County was handing out test kits from 600 W. Carrie Manor St. this week. However, when reached for comment on Thursday, Travis County's public information officer said he could not confirm if the CareStart test kits were indeed provided at that location, as all County offices are now closed for the holidays.
So, while we cannot confirm this kit was provided by Travis County, we can confirm that the kit provided in the photo has not expired.
If you manage to find an at-home test, make sure to double-check the lot number and expiration date.
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