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How a new NBA-backed COVID test could be the NFL’s (and America’s) saving grace

doug farrar
·7 min read

In its hope to have a relatively normal season in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the NFL has taken several radical steps. Teams are testing the players, staff, and internal and visiting media regularly, there is no preseason, the season premiere of “Hard Knocks” was basically a primer on how the Rams and Chargers are working around COVID, and it appears that everyone involved is preparing for the postponement or outright cancellation of the season if things get too dangerous. With the hope of an antidote at least months away, hoping for the best and testing for the worst is all the NFL can do — which can be said for the rest of us, as well.

At this time, the NFL and NFLPA have agreed to daily testing through September 5, which leaves an open question as to what will be the case when the regular season opens on Thursday, September 10, when the Texans travel to Kansas City to take on the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs. There’s still a lot to be determined regarding everything from player safety to the safety of officiating crews, on-site NFL personnel, attending media, and of course, whatever number of fans are allowed to attend.

In June, more than one NFL general manager told Yahoo Sports’ Charles Robinson about the hope for a saliva-based COVID test that was quicker and more affordable for everyone, and that, per Robinson, “it was one of the big hopes to keep fans safe and a season on track.”

It’s possible that this hope has arrived. Per ESPN’s Zach Lowe, the United States Food & Drug Administration has issued emergency authorization for the use of a saliva-based test for the coronavirus. It’s called SalivaDirect, and the cost per sample could be as low as $4. Research for the test was conducted at Yale University, and funded by the NBA and the NBA Players Association. Yale used the test on a group of NBA players and staff as the league was preparing for its re-boot, and the accuracy results matched the swab tests developed at Rutgers, which were approved by the FDA in April. This according to research that has not yet been peer-reviewed.

Per Lowe’s report:

The Yale test funded by the league and players’ union is simple enough to be used by labs everywhere provided they go through required accreditation processes, said Nathan Grubaugh, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Yale and one of two senior authors, along with Anne Wyllie, an associate research scientist in epidemiology, behind the saliva studies. Consumers dribble saliva into a narrow tube. Depending on the proximity of the lab, consumers could get results back within a few hours — and definitely within 24 hours, Grubaugh said.

The Yale test removes one cumbersome and expensive step — the extraction of RNA from samples — that is a core part of nasal swab tests and the Rutgers test. Scientists warned early in the pandemic about supply chain bottlenecks and shortages in equipment required to extract RNA.

Extraction makes for a clearer and more certain result, according to both Brooks and Grubaugh.

“My goal is not to test athletes,” Grubaugh told Lowe. “That’s not my target population. My target population is everybody. There were concerns about partnering with the NBA when all these other people need testing. But the simple answer ended up being the NBA was going to do all this testing anyway, so why not partner with them and try to create something for everyone?”

Andy Slavitt, the acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services during the Obama administration, made sure a group of former FDA commissioners had the early Yale results in the hope that a faster approvel would be granted.

“I helped make sure the right people in the White House were aware of the importance of the test, and the rest took care of itself,” Slavitt, who has been part of a group of virus experts working with the NBA League office, told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

“My interest was to help get a low-cost scalable test that can be a game-changer across the country,” Slavitt said. “We didn’t get leadership from where we needed it, but it’s great to see the NBA emerge.”

On Saturday, Slavitt put up a thread of information on Twitter about SalivaDirect that made the general public aware.

“One reason? Saliva,” Slavitt wrote. “We already have it. We don’t need to export it from Italy or run out. We don’t need to stick something 4 inches up a kid’s nostril. But that’s just the start.

“The second reason is profit. Or lack thereof. SalivaDirect is a protocol of how to do tests with whatever equipment you have as long as it gets approved by Yale (who developed the protocol). They decided not to sell a specialized kit (so they didn’t have anyone run out). They are turning testing from a bespoke suit to a low cost commodity. I’ve been writing about this goal for months. The cost of the materials are about $4. This test should be very cheap even if you add labor and overhead. Not the $100 for current tests. This is important for the next reason— so important…

“The most important reason is because the most important testing feature is CADENCE. How frequently can we test people. At a $10 test, you can test every day or every couple days. This is even more important than accuracy. But on accuracy…

“Official data shows 88-94%. If you assume 90% sensitivity, this is the best accuracy (sensitivity) of any saliva test. (It also means if you took it twice, for $20, you would have 99% accuracy).

“This is important because of schools. Universities. Office buildings. For wide testing of asymptomatic people. They are all getting introduced to the test in the next few weeks. You can’t spend $100 multiple times/week on a person’s point in time test.

“Turnaround time. SalivaDirect can be pooled for faster turnaround. In addition, labs around the country will be authorized to be able to do the test if they show they have the basic equipment.”

If SalivaDirect is all it’s said to be, the positive ramifications are obvious, and — to pardon the pun — game-changing. The ability to test with near-perfect accuracy and get results back quickly and cheaply makes daily testing a no-brainer, and allows people to know whether they have the virus much more easily. It doesn’t correct for your average anti-mask yobbos who think the whole thing is a plot by the Martians to take away their freedom, but nothing else corrects for that, either.

“There we go,” one NFL general manager told Robinson on Saturday afternoon. “I hope that ends up being the route the league goes!”

While even quicker and cheaper testing isn’t the ultimate solution, this could be the breakthrough the NFL has been hoping for as it tries to run through a 2020 season without tragedy forcing the whole thing to shut down. Far more importantly, it could be the thing the general public needs to bring the virus under control — something the current Presidential administration seems to have less than a passing interest in doing.