
What Coronavirus Test Results Do — And Don't — Mean


Nurse practitioner Willie Rios collects nasal swab for a coronavirus test from Araceli Merlos at St. John's Well Child and Family Center in Los Angeles, CA. Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images hide caption
Nurse practitioner Willie Rios collects nasal swab for a coronavirus test from Araceli Merlos at St. John's Well Child and Family Center in Los Angeles, CA.
Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times via Getty ImagesEven though we've been living with the pandemic for months, there's still lots of confusion about coronavirus tests and what the results do — and don't — mean. NPR correspondent Rob Stein explains the types of tests, when they are most accurate and how to make sense of the results.
Email the show at shortwave@npr.org.
This episode was produced by Brit Hanson, fact-checked by Ariela Zebede, and edited by Gisele Grayson and Viet Le.