FDA authorizes COVID-19 saliva test trialed in the NBA bubble

The Food and Drug Administration authorized a saliva-based COVID-19 test that the National Basketball Association helped study. The testing method, called SalivaDirect, is cheap and could be run by most labs.

Labs could charge as little as $10 per sample to run the test, said Nathan Grubaugh, an assistant professor at the Yale School of Public Health and one head of the team developing the test, in a press release.

This is the fifth saliva-based testing method authorized by the FDA. People can collect a saliva sample themselves by spitting into a tube, rather than have a healthcare provider insert a swab deep into their nasal cavity. Many labs have struggled to get enough swabs for COVID-19 tests, and using saliva sidesteps that...

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