PITTSBURGH — A Pittsburgh-based diagnostics laboratory is offering an alternative to COVID-19 nasal tests. SDx Labs has quadrupled the number of PCR saliva tests over the last few weeks. The company has processed more than 11,000 tests since July, inside their North Shore laboratory.
The samples go through a lengthy extraction and testing procedure.
“It’s a little more challenging due to the variation of saliva samples we receive, but we do think, generally speaking, the experience for people and accuracy of the testing we do is worth it, " CEO David Colaizzi said.
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The tests were a natural transition for Colaizzi, whose team has been performing health care diagnostics for years. Last spring, he began looking for a PCR COVID-19 test that is less invasive than nasal swabs. Since Christmas, the company has had to triple their technicians to keep up with the workload.
" Approximately 4,000 a week now,” Colaizzi said. “thanks to the rate we are at right now, with the high demand with the omicron variant, especially with the holidays.”
The tests are now available in 50 area pharmacies and at the company’s headquarters on the North Shore.
One pharmacist told us the saliva test has become popular for kids — particularly those older than 4 years old.
“Over the age of 4 or 5, depending on how good the child is at spitting, which we hope they are, they have to be able to fill that test tube up about an inch with saliva ... with some really young kids, that’s a challenge,” said Ron Obringer, a pharmacist from Spartan Pharmacy in Bethel Park.
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