The unrecognized importance of the throat in the early stage of SARS-CoV-2 infection

I congratulate Fowler et al. on an interesting study that contributes valuable insight into the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in different respiratory specimens [1]. In this study, nasal cavity, throat, and both sites were sampled for separate RT-PCR analyses of participants with suspected early-stage SARS-CoV-2 infection. An interesting finding of the study is that throat swabs are more sensitive than nose swabs for detecting the Omicron variation of SARS-CoV-2 with RT-PCR testing. This is an essential result, as the throat swab was not recommended for SARS-CoV-2 testing by the Infectious Diseases Society of America during the COVID-19 pandemic