Can Covid Tests Be Dangerous?

Those saying nasal swabs don’t injure people discuss ‘soft swabs’, a method of test that people are often able to do themselves.

Those reporting nosebleed and chronic headaches, vertigo and olfactory nerve damage are speaking of a much more difficult test — one administered with a device that looks similar to the ‘coffee stirring paddle’ found in commercial restaurants.

They told me it would ‘tickle’. Instead, it was very painful and I immediately suffered both a headache and a nosebleed — both of which have continued [the headache constant and the nosebleeds intermittently] since the test. There were two nurses that were basically holding me down from the minute I agreed to allow the Covid test so I could spend the night in the hospital due to what I had been told might be a stroke. It was horrible — so horrible that I now can’t go to the hospital, I was so traumatized.

Texas Hospital Patient ‘Amy’ given the Covid test July 16, 2020

Guide to Getting Tested for the Coronavirus – Consumer Reports

Stick This Swab Up Your Nose And Twirl It: Self COVID-19 Tests Are On

The Rise

“The holy grail of testing is really something where people can test themselves on a regular basis,” Landon said. “You don’t need staff or people to wear [personal protective equipment] to do the collecting. You don’t need them to be there if you just hand people a sample and they can pick up a kit and take it home.”