A new study published January 15 in JAMA Internal Medicine, led by Drs. Todd Lee and Emily McDonald from the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC), confirms the efficiency of saliva testing for COVID-19. This follows a study published earlier in the week by another RI-MUHC team showing that saliva samples for COVID-19 testing are as good as nasopharyngeal swabs, but cheaper. These findings could rapidly influence global public health policy for testing strategies. âPrevious studies on the performance of saliva tests showed mixed results, but most of them compared saliva tests to the standard nasal swab test, as if it was a perfect test. Interestingly, there are no perfect tests for COVID-19,â says Dr. Guillaume Butler-Laporte, first author of the study released today.