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| The long sticks used to swab one's nostrils and throat with to get specimen samples (photo by Baby Jean de Leon) |
Is swabbing painful? This is what many in the community are
asking as Hong Kong launched today, Sept 1, its
voluntary mass testing program for the novel coronavirus among the city’s 7.5
million population.
Many in the Filipino community fear the nucleic acid test, or
simply “swab test”, is painful, especially if they rely only on the social
media chatter of those who merely exchange second-hand information.
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| Pindutin para sa detalye! |
I had no idea what the sensation was like until I submitted
to the test this morning at North Point Government
Primary School in Quarry Bay
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| Volunteers waited to usher in swab test participants at the North Point Primary School |
There was no queue at all when I arrived in
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| Call now! |
The testing site is near Exit A of the Quarry Bay MTR
Station, so it was easy to find.
Three volunteers at the entrance eagerly met me as I
approached them and introduced myself. I asked them if many people had come for
the test, but they said just a few and offered to have me swabbed.
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| But at a nearby community centre, people had to line up to get tested (RTHK photo) |
First, my identity was checked and my reservation verified
at a protected counter. Then I was given a test tube to hand to the medical
volunteers who would swab me.
A female medic asked me to take off my mask. Then she took
out a 3-inch cotton bud and inserted it in my nasal passages, twirling it for about
10 seconds each time, as she gathered specimen that she put in the test tube.
Next, she told me to open my mouth and say “ahhh,” then she
spun a 6-inch cotton bud in my throat. After that, she transferred the bud to
the tube then dumped the stick in a bin. The test was over in less than 5
minutes.
Was it painful? Honestly, I didn’t feel any pain at all,
just a slight tickle that almost triggered a sneeze. But then, not all people
have the same level of pain threshold and not everyone who carries out the test
would probably do it as gently.
After the test, the volunteer said I would get the result on
my phone in a day.
