Local health officials respond to new FDA-approved saliva test

Good news for people who are leery about a nasal swab test for Covid-19.

County now let's get to our team coverage... we begin with a shift in covid-19 testing.

F-d-a has approved a*new saliva test that researchers are calling a*game changer.

Kezi 9 news reporter kennedy dendy is live to explain what this could mean for*you.

Kennedy?

Chynna, it cheaper.

Quicker and*less invasive.

And lane county public health officials told me today that they are 100% behind it.

I actually here in coburg at one of lane county testing events that just started.

And there already*tons of people here.

The green light for this new test was given out by the f-d-a on saturday for emergency use, and it called saliva- direct.

It a new method created by researchers at*yale school of public health.

And here how it works.

Unlike the nasal swab test, an individual simply*spits into a sterile container... a more practical option due to shortages of nasal swabs.

Lane county public health officials told me they are optimistic about this, because it will increase the testing capacity.

But theye not moving too quickly.

We do want to make sure however that whatever modality that we're pursuing, it's going to be accurate.

And that we're not going to be getting false positives or false negatives to a degree that don't don't hinder our ability to respond."

This is*also something the university of oregon is pursuing.

And davis says he believes it will be available*very soon.

It will cost about $10 per sample, and researchers said that the accuracy level is*on par with the nasal swab test.

The national basketball association helped to fund the development of this this and uses it to test for non- symptomatic carriers.

Coming up in the five o clock hour, find out what you need to do when it comes to the trends and clusters of covid-19 within*lane county.

Live in eugene kennedy dendy kezi 9 news.