Got free COVID-19 tests from the state of Minnesota with expiration dates shorter than the milk in your fridge?
Fear not, state health officials said Tuesday. Federal regulators extended the usefulness of the iHealth rapid antigen tests for three months beyond their listed expiration dates, giving Minnesotans more time to use them if they develop symptoms or ahead of travels or group events.
The extension will reduce waste from Minnesota's $6.5 million giveaway of 1 million COVID-19 home tests. Tests might be needed less in the summer, when public health experts predict lower COVID-19 levels in Minnesota, but more in the fall ahead of any surge in coronavirus infections when schools reopen and people spend more time indoors.

"This moves the expiration date for most of those tests well into the fall and some out as far as the end of the year," Garry Bowman, a Minnesota Department of Health spokesman, said in a written statement. People can look up the new expiration dates by entering the lot number of their tests on the manufacturer's website.
Minnesota reported an uptick in test orders last week after the state doubled the allowance for households, allowing them to obtain up to four free kits containing eight nasal swab tests in all. Nearly 700,000 tests have been ordered.
Many Minnesotans were surprised when their kits arrived this week with expiration dates as early as mid-July.
The three-month extension only applies to the iHealth tests with listed expiration dates no later than Sept. 29. Other tests beyond their permitted expiration dates shouldn't be used, because the chemical and molecular components won't be as effective at detecting the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
Even when valid, at-home rapid antigen tests produce more false negative results than the PCR tests at clinics and Minnesota's free testing centers. Kits contain two tests for this reason so that negative results can be verified. False positive results are rare.