Saliva Tests Show Promise 🤞

Data suggests spit may be an acceptable alternative to nasopharyngeal swab samples to detect Covid-19

Alexandra Sifferlin
Medium Coronavirus Blog
3 min readAug 31, 2020

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Photo: Suzanne Puttman Photography/Getty Images

I need to disclose some bias. I would much prefer to spit in a tube than have a swab spun around in the back of my nose and throat. To be clear, I’ve happily received multiple nasopharyngeal swabs because it’s important to get tested for Covid-19…

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Alexandra Sifferlin
Medium Coronavirus Blog

Health and science journalist. Former editor of Medium’s Covid-19 Blog and deputy editor at Elemental. TIME Magazine writer before that