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Staying Healthy
At-home tests: Help or hindrance?
Our homes have become mini medical testing labs. But beware of the pitfalls.
- By Maureen Salamon, Executive Editor, Harvard Women's Health Watch
At some point in the past three years, a great many of us stood at our kitchen or bathroom counters swabbing our nostrils or throat and counting the minutes until we learned if we had COVID-19. How did we do that? With at-home medical tests offering rapid results β an innovation that has changed the way we approach our health.
This collective pandemic experience transformed our dwellings into mini medical testing labs. But it also drove home the benefits of being able to check ourselves for conditions that might steer our actions in the short term β say, by isolating to avoid infecting others β or even guide health decisions for years to come.
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About the Author

Maureen Salamon, Executive Editor, Harvard Women's Health Watch
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