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Northern Nevada researchers working on the "Healthy Nevada Project" are turning their focus to the coronavirus. The project is a collaboration between Renown health, DNA company Helix, and the Desert Research Institute. Now they're using their platform to potentially solve a major problem.
"We're looking into the possibility for testing using the saliva tubes that the Healthy Nevada Project uses for DNA collecting," said Dr. Joseph Grzymski of the Desert Research Institute.
A study being done by the "Healthy Nevada Project" is looking to determine if saliva can be used for coronavirus testing. It's a big deal, because this manner of testing would be different from the current methods which involve swabbing the inside of the nose. "We are researching the possibility that there is enough virus in saliva that we can use saliva collection at home to assess whether there is coronavirus," said Grzymski.
Saliva testing for coronavirus is relatively new. It's unknown if it would be faster or more effective. Still, a new method of testing and the idea of testing at home is particularly appealing. Renown Health has acknowledged a shortage of testing right now. "We're hoping to continue to advance that conversation and make testing more available," said Renown Health President and CEO Dr. Tony Slonim.
This testing revelation, comes after Healthy Nevada Project's most recent study on COVID19. Within 48 hours, 14,000 participants conducted an online study on their habits and health history concerning the virus. This included questions about travel, contact with others, how often they wash their hands, and take their temperature. "This is another source of truth as people respond with new and important data," said Dr. Slonim.
The hope is that the research will help identify behaviors and people who have the virus but are not exhibiting symptoms. "Until testing becomes prevalent in the population. We'll have a lot of people who may have the virus and not know it. That's really the number one reason why we need to keep separate from each other," said Dr. Grzymski
Dr. Grzymski says that early assessment on saliva testing could come by next week.
