On October 13, Governor Mike DeWine discussed plans for Abbott BinaxNOW COVID-19 antigen screening tests that the federal government is providing to Ohio.
During the week of October 12, Ohio deployed thousands of these screening tests to colleges and universities to help them implement proactive screening plans. During the week of October 19, Ohio will begin sending tens of thousands of screening tests to nursing homes for both routine and outbreak testing requirements.
Gov. DeWine emphasized that lab-based PCR tests are still considered the “gold standard” test that provides the most accurate results, and antigen tests can have false positives and false negatives.
“The opportunity to test more broadly and more often make this an important step forward in our fight against COVID-19 spread, even with the lower sensitivity and specificity of these tests,” said Gov. DeWine. “We do have protocols to follow up on results that are most likely to be false, but we need to be aware that this is part of testing at this scale.”
Gov. DeWine also cautioned that testing should not be considered a substitute for precautions such as wearing masks, social distancing, and avoiding large gatherings.