A New Way to Test for COVID-19

On August 15, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted emergency use authorization for SalivaDirect, a new rapid saliva test that can diagnose COVID-19 within three hours of administration.

Infectious disease experts including Richard Watkins, M.D., a professor of internal medicine at Northeast Ohio Medical University, discuss the pros and cons of the new test in Verywell Health.

“On the one hand, I am happy that testing can be expanded, and this is a way to potentially get a lot more people tested. But on the other, I am concerned about the risk for false negative test results,” says Dr. Watkins.

Read more on SalivaDirect COVID-19 testing in Verywell Health.