UIUC saliva COVID test OK'd by FDA
Pritzker cheers ‘game changer’ in pandemic, producing faster results at lower cost
Gov. Pritzker cheered a newly developed University of Illinois test for COVID-19 using saliva as a “game changer” in the pandemic. (Illinois.gov)
By Ted Cox
Gov. Pritzker cheered a newly developed University of Illinois saliva-based test for COVID-19 as a “game changer” in the pandemic Wednesday, producing faster results at a lower cost.
“This has potentially game-changing implications,” Pritzker said at a coronavirus briefing at the Thompson Center in Chicago. “The potential here is enormous.”
Developed by researchers at the university’s Urbana-Champaign campus as part of a program called “The Shield,” intended to help the school reopen this fall, the saliva-based test produces results in three to six hours at a cost of $10 a test.
Dr. Marty Burke, the UIUC chemistry professor who led the project, warned that “testing is not a silver bullet,” but added that rapid testing allows a faster response all along the chain, saying, “The faster we can find individuals who are positive and isolate them, the better.
“Speed is the key,” he added. “So, fast and frequent.”
“Fast testing, fast results, isolating people faster, and contact tracing — all those things — have an enormously positive effect,” Pritzker said. “Fast testing and isolating people before they contact other people, so that contact tracing is just an ancillary activity, my goodness, that is really going to make a difference.”
When combined with other mitigation efforts, like wearing a mask and observing social distancing, Burke said, “It’s really when all of these things come together that the modeling predicts we have a real chance of getting this pandemic under control and reopening our society as safely as possible.”
“It’s really when all of these things come together that the modeling predicts we have a real chance of getting this pandemic under control and reopening our society as safely as possible.”
Dr. Marty Burke (Illinois.gov)
According to Burke, the test was tried last month with faculty and students on campus at 20 centers capable of processing 20,000 tests a day. Over the course of the month, they saw the positivity rate actually drop from 1.5 percent to 0.2 percent. “We’re very encouraged by these results,” he said.
Calling it “a critical new tool,” Chancellor Robert Jones said just Monday they tested 10,000 faculty and staff — 1.3 percent of all COVID-19 tests conducted across the nation for the day.
Burke said the test is similar to a Yale University saliva-based test being used by the NBA as it attempts to resume the basketball season in what’s being termed a “bubble” environment with all active teams based in Florida. UIUC basically piggybacked on Yale’s process in winning approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration by comparing the tests side by side. Burke said the Illinois test was found to be “even more sensitive,” earning a formal Emergency-Use Authorization from the FDA. The minimal materials required, meanwhile, make it “well suited to scalability.”
Pritzker said the state is planning to extend it to other public universities as soon as possible then public schools and across the general population. “The state of Illinois looks forward to being your biggest customer,” he told university officials.
Burke said that swab-based testing currently being used across the nation presents “too many bottlenecks,” for instance in the need for materials used such as swabs and reagents. The UIUC test basically heats the saliva and uses reagents to test for COVID-19, also detecting asymptomatic cases.
According to Burke, there’s been “a huge surge toward salvia-based testing” by medical researchers, as it’s moisture droplets from the mouth and nose that frequently spread the coronavirus. “You’re testing the exact medium that matters,” he said.
Burke said the research team’s initial aim was to determine “how we can come together to control the spread of this pandemic and allow our university to reopen.” He added that other mitigations remain essential — citing the three W’s to wear a mask, watch social distancing, and wash hands — but that he is encouraged by how students are observing those requirements as they report to campus for the start of classes next week, especially compared with the University of North Carolina, which closed down after clusters of students gathering without masks or social distancing produced an outbreak.
“This only works if everyone continues to do their part,” Burke said. “We would love to be the example to the world that we can do this.”
The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 2,295 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 statewide Wednesday, bringing the total number of infections to 211,889, with 25 new deaths taking the state toll to 7,806.
“I’m concerned that we’ve grown numb to the numbers,” said Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike. “These are people.”
Pritzker said the testing positivity rate in the Metro East region had risen from above 8 percent, triggering renewed social restrictions, to 9.4 percent. “Across the state, our 11 Restore Illinois regions are trending in different directions, the majority of which are the wrong direction,” he said. Only northwest Illinois and the eastern and southern regions were seeing slight declines, with southern Illinois nevertheless remaining a potential trouble spot.
“The truth is, we are better than most states, but that’s true today,” Ezike said. “But we are going in the wrong direction. … This is precisely when we have to act.” She warned about a potential combination of the pandemic and the flu season in the fall, saying, “We have not seen what flu and COVID illness look like together, and I’m sure we don’t want to.”