Health care workers often jokingly describe nasopharyngeal swabs – the extra-long Q-tips used for many coronavirus tests – ‘brain-scraping’ implements.  But for the Iowa woman, that joke was too near to reality.

Shortly after she went for COVID-19 testing, the woman’s nose started dripping profusely, her head started hurting and she became so nauseous she was vomiting.

When her head and neck got stiff and she tasted metal, the woman went to the doctor, where scans revealed a hole at the base of her skull.

The second story involves an 18-month Saudi toddler who died last week when a swab broke inside his nose while doctors were determining whether he suffered from the COVID-19 virus. The article tells us:

“The boy had a fever and was taken to Shaqra General Hospital in central Saudi Arabia by his parents. Medical staff tested the boy because they suspected his high temperature might be due to COVID-19.

During the test, the swab broke inside the child’s nose. Doctors performed an operation to extract the swab, which they said was successful, the child’s uncle was quoted by local media as saying.

When the child woke up following the surgery, his mother repeatedly asked medical staff to check up on her son but a doctor never arrived. At 9 a.m. the child fainted and lost consciousness.

The uncle said x-rays showed a blockage in the child’s airway. As his condition was deteriorated, his uncle demanded he be transferred to a specialist hospital in Riyadh but the child died even before the arrival of an ambulance.”

Our third story is about Sarah Simental, 18, who passed away less than a week after being diagnosed with Covid-19 after the virus caused brain bleeds and rapid kidney deterioration.

The Mirror reports:

“Sarah Simental passed away on Sunday, less than a week after being diagnosed with the killer bug, and having only turned 18 earlier this month.

The high school student, from Tinley Park, near Chicago, US, was otherwise healthy but the virus “ate her through”, leading to a brain bleed and kidney deterioration, according to her parents Deborah and Donald.

A few days before Christmas, Sarah began to suffer with mild cold-like symptoms but things quickly escalated and her mum took her for a test on December 19, which came back positive.

Over the next three days the Lincoln-Way East High School student continued to worsen, with vomiting, chills and body aches, before she was taken to Silver Cross Hospital on December 23.

She was subsequently airlifted to University of Chicago Medical Center where she died on Boxing Day, reports the Chicago Tribune. Deborah told WLS-TV : “She went into cardiac arrest, she had a brain bleed, it was deteriorating her kidneys, it just ate her through. No parent should ever have to watch their child go through that. Nobody.”

Next, a kindergarten student died of Covid-19 at the Amarillo Independent School District in northern Texas, as NBC affiliate KAMR reports.

“Parents Lastassija White and Quincy Drone told the NBC affiliate that their five-year-old daughter Tagan died suddenly after a short battle with the virus. “She loved to learn,” White said, adding that her late daughter would so fastidious about wearing a mask that she would even remind her mom if she forgot hers.

White said Tagan became very sleepy last week, and then began to vomit, so she brought her to the emergency department where she tested positive for the coronavirus.
Tagan had no obvious symptoms like fever or cough. White told KAMR that doctors said her daughter “would be fine” because it “doesn’t affect kids.”
Tagan continued to weaken and her parents said they called the ambulance after it appeared that she had stopped breathing. She died shortly after.” More on that story here.
Finally, the Mirror reports that a swab was stuck in patient’s lung while having a COVID test carried out after surgery. The woman, who had recently had a tracheostomy fitted after having part of her skull removed, got a bit of swab stuck in her lung at the University Hospitals of Leicester.