NBA & Yale Develop COVID Test

 Breakthru COVID 19 Test Developed by Yale-NBA Partnership

Source:  Yale School of Public Health 

New Test that's Easy & Inexpensive

The FDA has just authorized for use a much faster, easier, inexpensive and more comfortable COVID-19 test, developed through a pioneering partnership between the National Basketball Association (NBA) and Yale University.  It's called SalivaDirect.  In the Orlando Bubble where they're playing, NBA players and staff volunteered  to provide saliva samples for the Yale test.  The NBA also provided $500,000 in research funding to Yale University School of Public Health.  The players simultaneously took daily nose and mouth swab tests.  The much easier saliva sample test proved equally effective.  It now has the green light for widespread use.

SalivaDirect's Advantages

The Yale test has many advantages.  It is easy and comfortable:  the patient just needs to spit in a cup.  It is far less expensive at $10 a test, as opposed to the current top COVID test at more than $100.  The turnaround time for results is under 24 hours as opposed to the average three and four days.  And the researchers say 100,000 to 200,000 patients a day can be tested.  They add that labs around the nation can obtain needed tools to analyze the tests from multiple vendors, which eliminates any supply chain bottlenecks.

Meeting a Big Need

With offices, universities and schools efforting to safely reopen, this new test comes at a great time.  To prevent the spread of COVID-19, an inexpensive, fast, easy and comfortable COVID-19 test is greatly needed.  The test specifically spots asymptomatic carriers of the virus.  It worked flawlessly in the Orlando Bubble and now is being put to the test in the real world.

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