Thread by @DrEricDing

Why you should #SwabYourThroat…. Negative via nose… Positive via the throat. #Omicron is very different from all other variants. We need to adapt to changing testing strategies.

P.s. This story made my day! 👇

https://twitter.com/tweetmommybop/status/1477475314070691843

2) here was my tweet 🧵 yesterday morning that led @tweetmommybop to try out the throat swab rapid test after her husband has negative nasal results. RAT tests of Omicron are being compared using nasal tests vs Delta. I think they need to do throat swabs too with #Omicron

https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1477296506931712002

3) The throat swab positive while nasal swab negative testing story is becoming quite common. Here is another person with 3 negative nasal tests but got an immediate positive when she switched to a throat swab. 👇 #Omicron is different - we must adapt.

https://twitter.com/jennyrohn/status/1475410068019585027

4) It’s now becoming pretty clear that #Omicron is a very different beast. Saliva samples (hence throat swabs) are much better for detecting Omicron coronavirus. We need clear public health messaging (cough, CDC,cough) to adapt to this new reality. medrxiv.org/content/10.110…

5) LET THIS SINK IN—The 🇬🇧’s CDC for England (now @UKHSA) recommends taking a ***combined throat & nose swab** to test for #COVID19. ➡️However this is technically not authorized by the @US_FDA. Again, the FDA is a step behind 🇬🇧. Video how to swab 👇

6) Speaking of the US being a step behind other countries — 🇹🇼’s CDC completely rejects the @CDCgov’s shortened isolation without any testing rule. It is quite a mess that @CDCDirector caused last week. CDC is worse off now because of it.

https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1477311536360267788

7) Look how Jamaica 🇯🇲 swabs both throat & both nostrils 👃… and this was done in Sept of 2020. Other countries like US needs to catch up with the oral swabbing.

https://twitter.com/UHWI_JA/status/1303832342633607171

8) Annoyed — I just took my kid to get tested this morning— the drive-through swabbing techs didn’t swab the mouth or throat or even deep in the nose 👃—merely swabbed front only. My kid’s dry commentary— “welp, that’s gonna be a negative already”. Kids are smarter than adults.

9) Listen to testing expert @michaelmina_lab— he also endorses swabbing your throat + nose.

https://twitter.com/michaelmina_lab/status/1475468989933490179

10) Remember not to eat or drink for 30 min before your throat swab, according to UK govt guidelines for throat swabbing.