More people are testing positive for COVID-19 after using a rapid test to swab their throats. The trend recently took off on Twitter, and unlike most of the medical advice shared across social media, this tactic appears to be scientifically sound. huffpost.com/entry/covid-ra…
Why swab your throat, too? Although the nose and throat are both part of the upper respiratory system and closely connected, there may be some differences in the amount of virus in the nose versus the throat. huffpost.com/entry/covid-ra… 
Some scientists suspect saliva (throat) swabs may be more useful for detecting omicron since the variant replicates more efficiently in the upper respiratory tract. huffpost.com/entry/covid-ra…
A pre-print study from South Africa recently found that while PCR nasal swabs successfully detected all delta cases, they missed 14% of omicron cases — while a saliva swab caught all omicron cases.
huffpost.com/entry/covid-ra…
huffpost.com/entry/covid-ra…
Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease expert, said swabbing both your nose and your throat may increase the sensitivity of the tests and therefore improve the chances that they will detect the virus.
Purvi Parikh, an allergist and immunologist, said another reason a nasal swab might give a negative result while a throat swab comes back with a positive one is that many people don’t swab their noses correctly.
Read more about rapid tests and how to properly swab your throat for COVID-19: huffpost.com/entry/covid-ra…
Here’s where you can buy at-home rapid COVID tests, and when you should use one: huffpost.com/entry/where-to…
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