Submitted by AcJc_0604 t3_z4tozd in askscience
iksbob t1_ixt9apo wrote
Reply to comment by reddiart12 in How soon after exposure is the flu contagious? by AcJc_0604
Correct. The virus needs time to multiply before it will show up on an antigen test. ART tests are a reasonable gauge of how infectious you are. If you were exposed mere hours before, you are not yet infectious and so will not register as infected. An exception being if you were just exposed to a massive dose of the virus, such that there is a substantial amount of the virus trapped in the mucous in your nose.
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