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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Melissa Davey Medical editor

Everyone around you has Covid, and you have symptoms – so why are you testing negative?

Mother is taking rapid covid-19 test at home to her sick daughter at home.
Only 40% of household members will pick up Covid from another case in the home, while RAT kits miss ‘at least 30% of cases’, Prof Dominic Dwyer says. Photograph: stefanamer/Getty Images/iStockphoto

With students now back at school and many workplaces moving to at least a hybrid model of working from the office and at home, it’s not surprising that more of us are getting Covid, or hearing of people in our social circles who have it.

But why is it that in some cases, one member of a household tests positive for Covid, while other people living with them return negative tests, even though they also develop some symptoms?

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