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I took a covid rapid test it said negative after the 15 mins but 4-5 hours later it has 2 lines (postitve) do I have covid ?
Each test kit is slightly different for the times of “incubation” (waiting for the test lines to appear). The positive control line should appear within the time that is described in the package insert; if the positive control (usually labelled “C”) does not appear in the specified time then the test kit did not work and you should disregard the results.
If I interpret correctly, you had a test kit that is supposed to provide results within 15 minutes. Any lines that become visible at times significantly outside of that range (e.g., 4-5 hours) can be ignored. I assume that for you, the control line appeared within the 15 minutes and the test line (“T”) remained blank. So, if I understood your circumstance correctly, your test is to be interpreted as a test negative.
By the way, there are many ways to mis-use a test kit. For example, if you don’t use the reagents/solutions provided with the test kit and simply decide to run tap water onto the test kit you may get the “C” and “T” lines to appear. This is because water without the other buffers and other ingredients can “denature” the proteins on the test strip and cause a false positive. It does not mean the water has Covid in it. This is an example of an inappropriate use of the kit. In the same way, you need to read the test results in the specified timeframe of the manufacturer.
