Covid-19 antigen test kits are amazing. It’s simple, it’s analogue, and it can save lives. Although not the first at-home health test kit, it must be the most ubiquitous by now.

It was routine to test using these kits when the country began to open up. The government kept the price in check so everyone can afford to take them too.

At that time I always prefer the saliva test. I’ve seen videos of people taking the PCR test, the ones where the swab is shoved so far up their nose that the name of their first pet was accidentally deleted from memory. So I avoided nasal swab RTK tests.

But a lot of the saliva RTK tests are disgusting. The worst ones are those that came with a paper bag or plastic cup and a pipette. So instead of letting you spit into the cone and into the sample tube, it made you spit into a container first, then transfer it into the test tube. It was unhygienic, it was cheap, it was made in China, and it was theatre.

I had a few of those saliva RTK tests in my fridge and I relied on them when I began to develop symptoms. But they failed me, the one I got recently kept giving me false negatives.

To be sure, I had to try the nasal and saliva combo test. Frustrated, and on a friend’s recommendation, I picked up a few boxes of Salixium.

It’s made locally, and it’s relatively more expensive, but it’s also the most hygienic RTK test kit I had ever used.

The kit comes with two swabs, a sample tube, a test strip, bags, and instructions, all in the box that doubles as a tube holder.

Despite the long thin swabs, you don’t actually have to shove the thing far into the back of the throat or up the nose. It is comfortable, easier to understand, hygienic, and can be done on someone else, which can be helpful.

Sure it’s not as cheap, but it’s worth it for the peace of mind, for its user-friendliness, and to support a locally made product.