No, a throat swab is not more accurate than a nasal swab in detecting the omicron variant

As more and more people scramble to get tested for COVID, there’s a growing debate on social media about what’s more accurate, a nasal swab versus a throat sample?

Recent social media posts, as well as some doctors, are questioning swabbing techniques as they relate to the omicron variant.

A recent Tik Tok video posted by Allison Hall shows the journalist first receive a negative result after swabbing her nose.

In the video, she says, “Weird ’cause I’m pretty sure I have it, and it’s the omicron variant. I was reading online the omicron variant actually lives in the throat.”

Then, after swabbing her throat, she tested positive, which was later confirmed with a PCR test.

On Twitter, #SwabYourThroat is growing with more people doing the same.

CBS 8 reached out to three experts about this topic.

Full story at CBS8.com: https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/throat-swab-accurate-nasal-swab-detect-omicron-variant-verify-covid-coronavirus/509-cea4f41e-6245-47a8-ba7d-2a4d3e7f2f4d

New coronavirus detection throat swab self-sampling method [English version]