LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (USDA) granted emergency authorization for a rapid result COVID-19 saliva test Saturday. 

Researchers from the Yale School of Public Health developed it.

SalivaDirect is the same test asymptomatic professional basketball players have been using, as the NBA helped fund its development. 

Researchers say the test is less expensive, less invasive, and provides faster results than the traditional PCR nasal swab test. Medical professionals like Dr. Jon Klein, the Vice Dean of Research at the University of Louisville School of Medicine, have been keeping an eye on rapid result tests.

“So here is the very sensitive, specific test, the gold standard really, but we can’t get it back quickly enough, and here is this rapid turn around. Some of them are saliva tests. Some of them are nasal swab tests. They aren’t as sensitive, but you can do them in mass. You can do them in large numbers,” Klein said.

While the rapid results can help prevent the spread, Klein warns these tests are not as accurate as the standard PCR tests. Since that is the case, he said it would be better to think of rapid result tests as a tool that can be used in tandem with PCR tests, as opposed to using it as a substitute.

"How do we use the rapid turnaround as a screening tool to catch the positives and then when we think we have positive, confirm it with the slower test, but we already have a positive result from our rapid test. The discussion on how to structure testing and how to layer it is beginning to get some traction,” Klein said.

With the FDA's emergency use authorization, the testing method will be available to other diagnostic labs that want to start using the test, which can be scaled up quickly for use across the nation.

“If we can see production ramped up on the rapid tests and wide distribution, I think it will play a role as long as everyone recognizes the limitations," Klein said.