MACON, Ga. — Starting Monday, getting a COVID-19 test at the health department will look and feel very different.
Instead of public health staffers swabbing your nose, you will have to do it yourself.
"We are not expecting the individuals to take the swab and shove it way back in their skull," says Michael Hokanson with the North Central Health District.
Instead of the typical nasopharyngeal swap, the one that goes all the way up your nose, you'll have to do the nasal swab that only goes halfway up.
However, Dr. Lance Slade in Macon says it is better to have someone who is familiar with the test do it for you.
"From experience here, it is hard to do it to yourself effectively. I think maybe some people could, some can't, but it's always going to be better by another person that can be objective and won't be timid or worried," says Slade.
He says you run the risk of having inaccurate results if people do it themselves.
"It can't help but be an issue," he says. "There's a greater risk of them not swabbing enough to get enough of that antigen," but Michael Hokanson says public health staff members will be right by your car window while you test yourself to make sure its done accurately.
You'll be handed instructions that tell you first, pull open the swab wrapper.
Only touch the plastic end of the swab, not the soft end.
Then, place the soft end of the swab midway in the nostril until you feel resistance.
Slowly rotate the swab five times on your nasal wall, then you'll repeat in your other nostril.
Hokanson says this decision came from the Georgia Department of Public Health.
This way, they will save money by using a lot less protective equipment.
"Because they are not in a position where they're not actually putting a swab into a person's face and that puts them in the line of the possibility of being coughed on, sneezed on, having viral particles put all over them," says Hokanson.
He says he believes having staff on hand, walking people through the test step by step will ensure accurate results.
The state health department will still require an appointment to get a test.