PCR test service provider at Canadian airports: shallow swab in nose only

Switch Health is a PCR test service provider to the Public Health Authority of Canada (PHAC). The PHAC has been running a COVID-19 quarantine programme ever since March 2020. The PCR service is provided in at least two ways: 1 directly upon exit of the Customs area at the airport; 2 through an "at home kit". In this instructional video, the viewer is taken through the "at home kit" test procedure from start to finish. The "kit" depends on a video link interface with a Switch Health nurse, who verifies that the subject performs the necessary procedure, and a courier service to ferry the test tube from the subject's home to the laboratory facility. In other words, the "at home kit" box (visible here as the 2x6x8" blue box to the left of the laptop computer) is the physical trace of a pair of notional services (nurse and courier).

The reason for my interest in this video is because it documents the acceptance by the Government of Canada of nasal mucus for the Covid-19 PCR test. It is unknown since when this procedure initially was accepted by the PHAC. Other procedures have been used and accepted by various governments. For example, the UK accepts a nasopharyngeal swab but has no video supervision by nurse. The test procedure in Belgium unavoidably called for direct supervision by medical professionals (both at purpose-built drive-in clinics and at local pharmacies) of the intrusive nasopharyngeal swab procedure.

The Canadian procedure is much less invasive and causes less interpersonal friction to develop between nurse and patient, and is therefore enormously to be recommended.