Anywhere offering a PCR saliva test?

[Hanaguma]

Hi All;

 

My wife and  I are starting to yearn for the beaches and breezes of the LOS, so we are planning to come by summer.  One big hurdle is the testing though.  Neither of us wants a series of q-tips stuck in our various orfices if at all possible. Here in Japan we can get a saliva test for Covid from a private clinic.  When we visited the USA, the same. We could find a clinic that offered it.  Even at the airport in Japan, travelers are all given saliva tests upon landing. Results in 45 minutes to an hour.

 

How about Thailand? I tried searching and there are lots of articles about how such tests are being developed and touted, but where to actually get one?

 

Thanks!

[stretch5163]

I believe you have to have the PCR test before actually travelling to Thailand as you do with the Majority of countries. This may change but as now i believe this is still the requirement. Along with the multitude of other paperwork you require to enter Thailand.

[Hanaguma]

Hi;  Yeah I know the paperwork is a pain.  We can get tested in Japan no problem. Our worry is the testing that happens within Thailand.  The news said that places like Phuket may go to a quarantine free state in July, if you can prove covid vaccination. For us, the test we need to take before coming back to Japan is the worry. Japan doesnt care the format of the test as long as it is PCR.  We strongly prefer a saliva test to the nasal swab, so if it is available I would be a happy camper.

[Phillip9]

On 3/27/2021 at 2:22 PM, Hanaguma said:

The news said that places like Phuket may go to a quarantine free state in July, if you can prove covid vaccination.

 

Even if they go quarantine free, they will almost certainly still require a standard nasal and throat swab pcr test on arrival for the foreseeable future.  So if you really don't want a nasal swab, best not to plan on coming to Thailand any time soon.

[connda]

3 hours ago, Phillip9 said:

Even if they go quarantine free, they will almost certainly still require a standard nasal and throat swab pcr test on arrival for the foreseeable future.

I don't think there is such a thing as a "standard" PCR test.  No global standards bodies have created a PCR standard even though referring to the PCR as the "gold standard" of SARS-Cov-2 testing. Calling it a "gold standard" doesn't mean that it's standardized.  It's not.  Any country, any organization, any institution, any manufacturer, any lab in the world can set whatever cycle count they want.  It was created as a research tool, but if the WHO really wanted a somewhat valid diagnostic measurements of cases, there should be a very real gold standard with a very specific cycle count threshold used world-wide by all labs conducting tests.  The WHO has stated that labs world-wide often use a cycle count that is too high and 'recommends" lowering the cycle count.  That's not a standard as all labs are free to set their own cycle count thresholds.  A "standard" means just that: all labs using a standardize PCR methodology which would include a standard cycle count - worldwide.
They don't.  But it makes everyone feel safe though regardless of it's accuracy.
In the meanwhile, some countries have millions and millions of "cases", and others (like Thailand) have very few.  Put me in charge of a lab and I could create either sets of results: large numbers of cases or very few cases and everything in-between.
Just manipulate the cycle count.  Low cycle count you have fewer cases with a high probability of being truly Covid positive; high cycle count and you have masses of cases with a high number of asymptomatic false positives with virtually any SARS-base virus fragment (like some common colds and non-Covid SARS) triggering the test.  Depends how badly you want to scare the public imho.  ????

Edited March 28, 2021 by connda

[Phillip9]

7 minutes ago, connda said:

I don't think there is such a thing as a "standard" PCR test

 

By standard I mean the nasal and throat swab pcr test they are currently requiring of all arrivals.  You don't get a choice of the exact test.  You just have to accept whatever test your AQS does. 

 

Even after they go quarantine free,  you will probably have to stay some number of nights in a certified hotel and get tested one or probably two times.   You will just have to accept whatever test that hotel does and it will likely be a nasal swab.

[Puccini]

At present, a nasopharyngeal swab is taken in Thailand for the PCR tests during quarantine.

[Puccini]

@Hanaguma

Every quarantine hotel is partnered with a hospital and this hospital sends nurses to take the swabs for the required PCR tests. I do not know what instructions, if any, the Thai health authorities have given to these hospitals regarding the collection of samples for the tests. You may want to contact the partner hospitals of a few quarantine hotels you are considering and ask them whether they would agree to use your saliva.