Eli5 Why do antigen tests take 15 minutes when you can see the lines right away?

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When taking rapid antigen tests and pregnancy tests it tells you to wait 15 mins (or 5 for pregnancy) but the lines show up right away. Why wait the full 15? Do the lines actually change over a period of time?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Everyone (4 people) in my house tested positive for Covid recently. For 3 of us, the line showed up right away. For 1 of the adults I live with the second line showed up 10-15 minutes later. We thought it was weird she didn’t test positive and then noticed the second line just took longer to appear.

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