Noninvasive Saliva Tests for COVID-19 as Effective as Nose, Throat Swabs

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• Researchers say new saliva tests are nearly as accurate as throat and nasal swabs to detect COVID-19.
• They note that the tests are easier and less invasive than other exams, factors that could help increase the number of COVID-19 tests.
• Some at-home tests require a prescription, and some need to be sent to labs while others don’t.

You now have a more comfortable, easier-to-perform option for COVID-19 testing besides the “stick in the nose” and throat swab methods.

Saliva-based testing has shown accuracy in detecting positive coronavirus infection 83 percent of the time, while nose-throat swab tests have shown 85 percent accuracy, according to a review of data from 16 studies including 5,900 participants published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

The study authors also report that saliva-based testing has shown 99 percent accuracy at identifying negative cases for COVID-19, with a far less invasive and discomforting process.

Furthermore, the researchers suggest that the ease of use and good diagnostic performance of the saliva-based test may make it an attractive alternative that could bolster test rates.