The test, which uses saliva instead of a swab that is inserted deep into the nose or throat, will be administered to 10,000 people a day as soon as next week, said Brian Strom, chancellor Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences. Currently, between 7,000 to 9,000 people in New Jersey are tested each day.
“Testing is the new linchpin to begin to return to normalcy,” Strom said during the state’s daily press briefing in Trenton, adding the daily capacity could be increased and equipment is on order.
“It is expandable in a modular fashion,” Strom said. “There is no limit. This is so new, we’re just launching.”
The development is significant since Gov. Phil Murphy has insisted a huge spike in testing is needed before the state can begin to roll back some of the unprecedented restrictions the governor put in place to mitigate the deadly pandemic.
“It’s definitely going to be a game-changer,” state epidemiologist Dr. Christina Tan said.
The saliva tests will initially be made available to the RWJBarnabas Health network, which has partnered with Rutgers University and includes Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick and University Hospital in Newark. Strom listed several locations where the tests are being deployed including walk-up testing facilities.
In addition, all staff members at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick will be tested, Strom said.
The tests were initially piloted at a Middlesex County coronavirus drive-thru facility on Kilmer Road in Edison, for county residents and first responders.
Murphy said called the tests a “huge breakthrough coming from our very own flagship university.” He said the tests will be used on every resident at the state’s five development centers.
“These are among our most vulnerable residents,” the governor said.
CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage
Murphy on Thursday revealed another 307 people in New Jersey have died from COVID-19 and another 4,227 more tested positive. A total of at least 5,368 people have died in New Jersey, which has at least 99,989 cases.
Health officials have said New Jersey could need to administer 20,000 to 30,000 tests a day to appropriately get a handle on the outbreak and reopen the state, dwarfing the 7,000 to 9,000 currently being administered in the state.
Murphy said he plans to unveil a “broad blueprint” on Monday on how the state will eventually reopen. The unveiling was originally slated for the end of this week, but he said a couple more days were needed to finish the report.
Murphy insisted Thursday that before the state can reopen there needs to be “sufficient scale and rapid return testing, contact tracing and then a plan for self-isolation and quarantine.”
“We are working as fast as we can on all of the above,” he added.
The new COVID-19 test developed at Rutgers got emergency approval by the Food and Drug Administration and has already been used as of last week.
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