KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Missouri Gov. Mike Parson visited Kansas City, Missouri, on Thursday to announce that Truman Medical Center will be one of four locations in the state to have saliva-based COVID-19 testing.
Parson first made the announcement about saliva testing coming to Kansas City last month.
Truman Medical Center expects to start the new testing method in four to six weeks depending on when the center receives the materials to facilitate the test.
"We were struggling to do 2,000 tests a week, couldn't get swabs, couldn't get chemicals, all kinds of things," Parson said. "Today we're up to 125,000 tests per day, this is going to escalate that even further across the state."
In August, the Food and Drug Administration approved the saliva-based COVID-19 testing.
The testing was developed by and researched at Washington University in St. Louis. According to hospital officials, results could be determined as soon as three hours.
Parson also said the state will be providing tests in every school system in Missouri so they have the ability to facilitate tests internally.
