Saliva Tests at Ohio Assisted Living Communities Paused After 'Inconsistencies'

The state of Ohio has paused new NovaDX saliva-based coronavirus tests at assisted living communities after finding inconsistencies in results after just a few days of testing, reports the Cincinnati Enquirer . The state is probing whether the tests produced false positives and their possible cause. Dan Tierney, spokesperson for Gov. Mike DeWine, said none of the results has been counted as a case in Ohio's COVID-19 dashboards. The pause will continue while the state reviews the tests' accuracy, and some assisted living community staff will still be screened this week using both the saliva test and two nasal swabs, said the Ohio Assisted Living Association. All information about the assisted living program was taken down from the Ohio Department of Aging website early yesterday. The Ohio Department of Health paid $300,000 to procure 12,000 mLife saliva test collection units, which requires samples to be sent to a lab for testing.