UMass Memorial piloting coronavirus saliva testing

Photo | Grant Welker UMass Memorial Medical Center's University Campus in Worcester

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UMass Memorial Medical Center has begun a pilot testing program using saliva to test for the coronavirus, offering a new method in addition to the more common nasal swab.

The pilot program, announced in a staff-wide memo, began Tuesday on four units in UMass Memorial's University Campus and three units on its Memorial Campus. Other sites will continue to use nasopharyngeal specimens, or nasal swabs.

UMass Memorial has also continued shifting its care back more toward normal operations after having to dedicate much of its personnel and patient beds to coronavirus care through the late winter and early spring.

The hospital has returned its Psychiatric Treatment and Recovery Center — once the state's first inpatient psychiatric unit dedicated to coronavirus-positive patients — back to treating all patients. Cosmetic procedures have also been allowed since the last week of June. An ambulatory testing tent for coronavirus patients for patients and employees remains in operation weekdays and Saturday mornings.

The shifts in care come as UMass Memorial's coronavirus patient numbers continue declining. The hospital had 17 positive inpatient cases on Monday, six of whom were in intensive care. Through the whole pandemic, the hospital has had 261 employees test positive, all but 18 of whom have returned to work.