How well do combo tests for COVID and flu work?

As respiratory virus season arrives in the US, a new tool could be a game-changer for families: over-the-counter combination tests that can detect both flu and COVID-19 with a single sample.

These tests became available last year, but this is the first flu season where this type of test will be widely available.

The combination tests offer a convenient way to quickly check for both viruses at home, but how reliable are they and how should they be used?

In Atlanta, researchers at Emory University, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Grady Health System have played a pivotal role in evaluating these combination tests through the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) and Independent Test Assessment Programs (ITAP), which select and test the most promising diagnostic tools and then help them move quickly through the development, approval, and commercialization pipeline.

The Atlanta Center for Microsystems Engineered Point-of-Care Technologies (ACME POCT), led by researchers at Emory University, helped test seven of the eight combination tests for flu and COVID-19 that are now available on store shelves.

Here, Greg Martin, a principal investigator in the ACME/RADx initiative at Emory and director of pulmonary and critical care medicine, shares insights into how these tests work, their reliability, and what to expect as respiratory viruses circulate: