I took dd2 for a test yesterday after she developed a (fairly mild and short lived) temperature on Saturday. DD has learning difficulties and some sensory issues, so I was expecting swabbing her to be difficult - in the end it was a nightmare and I only managed a few seconds in each nostril, definitely not far enough up or for long enough, according to the instructions. I didn't even attempt the throat swab.
We've just had a negative result. I was pretty certain she didn't have Covid 19 as the symptoms were so mild and she now has a streaming cold.
However - I really can't see how the test result can be accurate, given how badly performed it was. Does the test just look for the presence of the virus in the sample? Therefore a 'bad' sample is unlikely to show up anything, even if the person does have it? If that is the case, as most tests are self-administered (or by parents on their protesting children), surely there will be loads of false negatives and therefore people going on with their lives without realising they are spreading it?