COVID-19 Saliva Test Now Being Used for Wider Testing

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently authorized the emergency use of "SalivaDirect", a new, inexpensive saliva test for COVID-19 testing. The test, which is much less invasive than the nasal swabs, has shown to yield similar test results. Unlike the nasal swab test, which requires labs to use chemical reagents (causing a national shortage), labs are able to run approximately 90 samples in less than 3 hours.

FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said in a statement, “Providing this type of flexibility for processing saliva samples to test for COVID-19 infection is groundbreaking in terms of efficiency and avoiding shortages of crucial test components like reagents.”

Up to this point, testing has been a very expensive endeavor, both for facilities and for the individual. With the new SalivaDirect option, testing for the disease will become cheaper and easier to access. Read the full statement from the FDA here. Questions? 1-888-INFO-FDA