[Jim Noble]

even if you show all the symptoms, they want to swab you to type it

The swab isn't for typing, it's to prove you have it.

Studies have shown over and over that up to 40% of patients with "influenza like illness" are actually infected with other viruses, principally parainfluenza, RSV, and strains of coronavirus.

Tamiflu has no activity against any of those viruses, so prescribing Tamiflu because someone has "all the symptoms" brings those people side effects and costs with no possible benefit.

[ConservativeMind]

The flu swab does nothing to identify any other virus. So you pay for something that doesn’t tell you anything in those cases, then you have to do a poop smear or the like. Why not force everyone to be typed for the others?

Tamiflu doesn’t have any appreciable side effects and if the flu is going through an area, there’s no reason to lay to type obvious symptoms.