A swab deep in your nose and at the back of your throat is not "very invasive".

Having seen how it's done via plenty of news reports, having a swap stuck up the back of my nose certainly looks plenty invasive, not to mention potentially painful.

I can certainly imagine someone who's asymptomatic and is more nervous about it being disinclined to voluntarily undergo testing.

If it were a finger-tip prick or cheek-swap it'd probably have a lot more acceptance.

This is true, very few would object to a finger-prick, and there was talk of a "spit test" a few weeks back; that would push testing rates to close to 100%

> I can see why someone with no symptoms, especially if they're not at risk of transferring it to others, would refuse it.

The fact that they caught the disease tells us they are at risk of transferring it to others.

No. I have undergone a PCR test myself and it was no big deal at all.

It takes 5 seconds and is mildly uncomfortable. I don't even know what invasive even means in this context.

All I have to say to those people is "suck it up"

Source: I've had 8 tests now.

Non-invasive means that the means/method of testing effectively has zero potential of harm (although receiving the results could be a huge blow).

While nasal swabs are extremely low risk, they still are a test that people may try to avoid out of fear of medical procedures.

That's not what it means, it is invasive if it invades, enters a part of your body which is not usually probed with foreign bodies, you anus, your urethra, deep in your nose, behind your eyes. The risk associated is orthogonal.

The guidance for the last month has been that they insert it into each nostril for at least 15 seconds out here. Curious if they do the tests differently in certain locations.

The first 2-3 I had were for 15 and I will say yes the last 4-5 seconds does get uncomfortable but not a big deal.

The more recent tests have also been 5 seconds.bone in each nostril and nothing in the throat. I've definitely had different style of tests but I do not recall the names. They are also using a better style of swab in my opinion that makes it substantially more comfortable.

Even for the more uncomfortable longer time style tests it's something you forget about pretty much immediately afterwards.

> It takes 5 seconds and is mildly uncomfortable.

This is good to know, I've heard people say you don't want to get tested as it's rather painful.

Mildly to somewhat uncomfortable yes. Depending on the style of test, the 15 second one is obviously less fun. But it is in no way painful. I firmly believe people simply don't want to get tested for whatever selfish reason or they are wildly exaggerating the test.