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Is a throat swab the best way to complete an at-home COVID test? - NJ.com

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To throat swab or not to throat swab?

That seems to be the question going around social media, as concerns have grown over how effective at-home rapid antigen COVID-19 tests are.

Most tests instruct you to do a nasal swab.

According to The Washington Post, some social media users are detailing experiencing symptoms yet testing negative for the coronavirus when using the nasal swab method. But when they swabbed their noses as well as their throats, they received positive results.

Public health experts are mixed about whether or not a throat swab, in addition to a nasal swab, is the best way to complete an at-home COVID-19 test.

On one hand, some experts argue that swabbing your throat in addition to swabbing your nose might increase the chance that your at-home test will detect a positive COVID-19 test for omicron.

“Symptoms are starting (very) early (with) omicron. This means that there is a chance the virus isn’t yet growing in the nose when you first test,” Dr. Michael Mina, a former associate professor of epidemiology at Harvard and chief science officer of eMed, wrote on Twitter. “(The) virus may start further down. Throat swab (and) nasal may improve chances a swab picks up virus.”

On the other hand, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warns Americans against experimenting with at-home COVID-19 tests specifically designed for collecting samples using only nasal swabs.

“The FDA advises that COVID-19 tests should be used as authorized, including following their instructions for use regarding obtaining the sample for testing,” an agency spokesperson said this week in a statement to U.S. News.

Other public health experts sided with the FDA in saying that people should just stick to the instructions on the testing kit label until there is more data.

“There’s a lot of work under the hood that has to be done for these companies to pivot to a new sampling method,” Albert Ko, an infectious-disease physician and epidemiologist at the Yale School of Public Health, told The Washington Post.

Related stories about the omicron variant and COVID-19:

When is the omicron wave expected to peak in the U.S.?

Are my symptoms omicron variant of COVID or a cold?

The omicron variant symptoms to look out for if you are fully vaccinated

Omicron variant: What does asymptomatic mean? Can asymptomatic people transmit COVID?

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Katherine Rodriguez can be reached at krodriguez@njadvancemedia.com. Have a tip? Tell us at nj.com/tips.

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