(CNN) - There may be a breakthrough in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. The Food and Drug Administration has granted emergency use authorization for a saliva test.
“It doesn’t need the same re-agents and swabs that have been the limiting steps to create testing at scale in this country. It really could be a game changer if we can deploy it,� said Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, epidemiologist and public health expert.
Officials say results can be determined in under three hours and tests are expected to cost about $10 per sample.
“I think it will take weeks, if not longer, for this test to become more widely available, but as it comes online, I think people will like it much better than the more intrusive nasal swab test,� said Dr. William Schaffner with the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
The National Basketball Association helped to fund the development of this test and uses it to test for non-symptomatic carriers.
The FDA announcement came as the U.S. death toll for known COVID-19 cases passed 170,000, according to Johns Hopkins University.
“This virus is still spreading widely in the communities. It’s not under control yet over much of the United States, I’m afraid,� said Schaffner.
While known new cases of COVID-19 are trending down, some say more still needs to be done.
