Why Swiss school students are pouring orange juice on their Covid tests
School students in Switzerland have been using acidic drinks such as juice and cola to manipulate Covid tests.
The acid in the juice tricks the test into showing a positive result. Due to the acidity, the second strip on the test is triggered, meaning that it displays as if it was a positive test.
Pregnancy tests can also be triggered in the same way.
Just two or three drops of the liquid are enough to produce a positive test, with cola and other soft drinks also effective.
The students then show the positive test to their teachers or their parents in order to get days off school.
According to Swiss news outlet Tages Anzeiger, knowledge of the trick has spread through social media sites like TikTok.
The trick was reported as early as summer of 2021 in the UK, but teachers and parents have only been made aware of the trick relatively recently.
Teachers however told Swiss media that although knowledge had spread of the trick, they were confident most students would not use it “as they want to come to school”.
Switzerland currently has a Covid measure in place which requires people to isolate if they test positive for the virus, although this is set to be phased out on April 1st.
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The acid in the juice tricks the test into showing a positive result. Due to the acidity, the second strip on the test is triggered, meaning that it displays as if it was a positive test.
Pregnancy tests can also be triggered in the same way.
Just two or three drops of the liquid are enough to produce a positive test, with cola and other soft drinks also effective.
The students then show the positive test to their teachers or their parents in order to get days off school.
According to Swiss news outlet Tages Anzeiger, knowledge of the trick has spread through social media sites like TikTok.
The trick was reported as early as summer of 2021 in the UK, but teachers and parents have only been made aware of the trick relatively recently.
Teachers however told Swiss media that although knowledge had spread of the trick, they were confident most students would not use it “as they want to come to school”.
Switzerland currently has a Covid measure in place which requires people to isolate if they test positive for the virus, although this is set to be phased out on April 1st.
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