Buttbusting: The Truth About Those Anal COVID Tests

Original Maria Yao theBeijinger

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There’s been a lot of rumors going around about Beijing requiring anally administered COVID-19 tests, with unfounded claims a-whirling that a medical professional will soon be coming for your rear-end. But here at the Beijinger, we’re a bit anal-retentive when it comes to the details surrounding COVID-19, bending over backward (and forward) to bring you the truth. So, it’s time to set the record straight - what’s really going on with these starfish swabs?

Who is actually receiving these tests?

On Jan 18, an asymptomatic nine-year-old boy was found to be COVID-19 positive in Beijing’s Daxing District. By Jan. 20, all students and teachers at the boy's school had been tested nasally, orally, and anally, according to a recent press conference on prevention and control. A total of at least 1,298 people received such tests as a result of the incident.

In addition, people in quarantine, such as international arrivals, are also being asked to administer these tests on themselves.

Why are people being asked to take these tests at all?

In an interview with a reporter from The Beijing News, Dr. Li Dong, deputy chief physician, Department of Infectious Diseases at Beijing You'an Hospital, said that by late last year, it was becoming clear that many patients returned a negative result on the throat and nasal tests would then receive a positive result from an anal test. The combination of these methods can therefore increase detection rates and reduce the proportion of missed diagnoses.

However, although the rate of false negatives is low, the detection process is also more complex, so the test is only being administered on “key populations” – which, for now, we know include quarantined individuals and people who live and work in high-risk zones.

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Will I be asked to take one of these tests soon?

Given the criteria that we know about so far, probably not – as long as the situation in Beijing stays under control.

Though there are still a couple of medium-risk zones in Shunyi, the only high-risk zone in Beijing is the area around the aforementioned Daxing school. And, if recent history is any indication, any future high-risk zones will likely be confined to a small area – a single street, community, or building. As long as you don’t find yourself in one of these areas, then you can relax your cheeks.

Ok, but I’m still really curious how this test works?

In fact, the tests are being administered in two different ways.

If the patient happens to have a bowel movement at the time of the test, then a simple fecal swab culture can be used.

However, not everyone can go on command, so if that’s not the case, then a cotton swab soaked in saline can be inserted two to three centimeters into the anus and gently rotated before being inserted into a test tube containing saline solution.