Coronavirus Here's what it's actually like to do COVID-19 drive thru nose swab testing You have to swab your nose yourself, so get ready. But it's worth it.

The throat swab is well suited for polymerase chain reaction testing, also known as PCR, while the blood sample will be mined for antibodies specific to the new disease, known as COVID-19. You may ...

Many rapid tests, which involve either a shallow nasal swab or throat swab, don’t have the same capability, Baker said. “PCR is by a long shot the most sensitive method,” he said.

A rapid antigen test is a screening tool – it can indicate that you might be infected, but you need a PCR test to confirm the result.

As for lab-based PCR tests, Dr. Adalja said he doesn’t recommend that physicians swab throats unless the instructions call for that method, which some do.

Recent research indicates these nasal swab tests may be less sensitive to the coronavirus’ omicron variant in the earliest days of infection.

As complaints surface that the tests are slow to pick up on the omicron variant, advice is spreading on Twitter suggesting you should be taking that at-home COVID test a little differently.

But that's all they do. PCR tests don't contain vaccines. Efforts to create a COVID-19 vaccine administered via nasal swab are underway, but no such vaccine is yet approved for use.

Screening To Prevent SARS-CoV-2 Outbreaks: Saliva-Based Antigen Testing Is Better Than The PCR Swab A. David Paltiel Rochelle P. Walensky September 11, 2020 10.1377/forefront.20200909.430047 ...

Nursing home operators may have better luck using saliva-based, rapid antigen testing for screening COVID-19 within their facilities over polymerase chaise reaction (PRC) nasal swab because of the ...

As complaints surface that the tests are slow to pick up on the omicron variant, advice is spreading on Twitter suggesting you should be taking that at-home COVID test a little differently.