COVID-19 testing and screening says B.C.’s provincial health officer is correct to say that rapid tests are not always as accurate as PCR tests, which take longer to return results.But Sue Paish said that’s not a reason not to deploy them, especially in high-risk settings like long-term care homes, in conjunction with other testing strategies and “layers of protection.”“One of the things we heard a lot at the testing panel is that ‘perfection is the enemy of the good,'” she said.“Rapid tests are not as accurate as PCR testing.
However, there’s lots of evidence to show that when rapid tests are deployed on a consistent basis and when positive results are then confirmed with a PCR test, we can identify people who may be infected but be.