A new saliva test for COVID-19, known as SalivaDirect, gets the thumbs up from the FDA. LSU Health New Orleans infectious disease expert Dr. Catherine O’Neal says this test differs from other saliva tests because not only is it a quick and easy collection, but they can skip the extraction step saving time and money.
“By showing that they may be able to skip that step, save money and save reagents which are just really hard to find these days and still get to a result, that means that we can increase the testing capacity in the country,” said O’Neal.
Unlike the nasal swab tests where a swab is inserted deeply into the nose, the saliva test would be less invasive and only require someone to spit into a collection tube.
The test was developed by researchers at Yale. O’Neal says this test will also cut down on wait times to get a result.
“Theoretically, if you were standing outside of the lab that was doing the test, you could get the results within a matter of hours,” said O’Neal.
SalivaDirect is considered a testing innovation game-changer by reducing demand on the supply chain of scarce testing resources.
O’Neal sees value in using the tests for communal living settings.
“If I’m going to test 100 kids who are living in a dorm once a week to make sure that it is safe to stay in that dorm, I could use the test and it would be cheap, it would be pretty quick as I could get the results back the same day, and it wouldn’t pull on the supply chain needed for the hospital,” said O’Neal.
Researchers at Yale say they expect labs will only charge about $10 per sample with this test.
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