I wouldn't have done it except my 90yo dad was in the hospital and they would not let me visit him. Luckily, they allowed me to go down to the drugstore and buy a self-test, so I didn't have to get my blood-brain barrier poked at. The test kit info stated that the nostril swab was just a plain sterile swab. All the nasty chemicals are supposedly in the reagent solution which you add to the swab later.