New Saliva Testing Option and MDH Survey of Provider Interest

Posted on September 30, 2020 by Kari Everson

The State of Minnesota has entered into a contract with Infinity Biologix/Vault Health to establish a new COVID-19 saliva testing option, and a new in-state laboratory, to process up to 30,000 saliva tests per day.

This new initiative will dramatically expand Minnesota’s COVID-19 testing capacity and offers a different option for meeting the testing needs in priority settings and populations such as long-term care. As a first step in the process of establishing this new testing platform, the State is asking organizations to fill out a short survey to indicate their interest in purchasing some of this new capacity. A link to the survey is here:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BDK7XV9.

LeadingAge Minnesota encourages members—care centers, assisted living, adult foster care and other congregate living settings—to fill out the survey. It does not constitute a commitment or purchase agreement, but it’s an important way for the State to assess the level of interest in these tests, so they can make the right decisions about how to allocate the supply across the highest priority and need areas. Vault Health will also use the surveys to reach out directly to interested organizations to share further information.

There is no deadline for completing the survey, but we encourage members to do so sooner rather than later so MDH can appropriately allocate capacity. It is expected that these tests will be available to providers in mid-October.

The saliva test appears to offer easier specimen collection—particularly for staff testing, results returned within 24-48 hours, and less costly lab fees—although cost details have yet to be shared. Research at Rutgers University, Yale University, and the University of Utah are showing that saliva testing matches nasal swab collection sensitivity as well as specificity. In fact, an ongoing Rutgers University study of health care workers showed 96% concordance between saliva and nasal swab test results on the same person.

If you have questions on saliva testing, contact Kari Everson, LeadingAge Minnesota Director of Clinical Care and Nurse Consultant at keverson@leadingagemn.org or 651-380-2032.