How soft drinks, juice are helping kids fake a COVID positive test in UK

The practice of inventing new ways to call fake sick and bunk schools had been going on since the advent of the concept. Not a single student has not used tea and coffee to fake a temperature just to get a day off from school. However, who knew that kids will find a way to fake COVID too? Sounds crazy, right? But trust us, it has happened.

So, a new trick that involves the usage of soft drinks and juice to goof up a COVID-19 lateral flow test (LFT) has been doing rounds on the social media platform Tiktok for months now and students in the UK are now using this method to fool the school administration.

Recently, a school in Liverpool, UK wrote to parents to warn them about children using the so-called trick to fake a false COVID positive, reported BBC. 

While this seems really bizarre as to how soft and other flavoured drinks contribute to a COVID test, it also raises several questions about the link between the two. It should also be noted that the trick works only on COVID-19 lateral flow test. Thus, it is imperative to understand what is COVID lateral flow test first.

What is COVID lateral flow test?

COVID lateral flow test is a way to diagnose COVID-19 in people who do not show any symptoms of the infection. It is somewhat similar to a pregnancy test and determines the result in just 30 minutes. LFT analyses the material collected from the back of someone’s nose and throat. The swab is then inserted into a tube of liquid, after which a sample of this liquid is deposited on a small absorbent pad contained within the disposable testing kit. The swab is then put in the liquid to maintain an ideal PH balance before it can be poured into the strip. If it is positive, the line on the test kit turns red and vice versa.

How soft drinks and juices impact the COVID lateral flow test?

So the liquid that we talked about in the previous segment contains antibodies that bind with the virus if present in the swab. One possibility of the scenario is that soft drinks and juices contain some elements that for some unknown reason binds or reacts with the antibody present in the liquid, thus, giving a false COVID positive, BBC reported.

Another explanation is that something in these drinks is affecting the function of the antibodies. Notably, one thing they all have one thing in common- the feature of being highly acidic. Now it is shown that antibodies react drastically when exposed to acidic elements and this might be a reason behind the structural change in the antibodies that gives a false-positive result.

However, it must be noted that all these reasons are mere possibilities and the impact of cold drink on antibodies is yet not proven.