Saliva tests arrive locally

CLOVIS — On Friday the New Mexico Department of Health announced that Clovis and Portales will be two of 10 locations in southeast New Mexico that will have their COVID-19 testing expanded to include saliva tests.

“The sites are already established under the Public Health Offices and have been providing nasopharyngeal tests to the public since testing began. Those tests will be exchanged next week for the Curative tests in Artesia, Carlsbad, Hobbs, Roswell, Clovis, Fort Sumner, Lovington, Portales, Ruidoso, and Tucumcari,” Marisa Maez wrote in a release to the public on Friday.

Patients wanting to get a saliva test must pre-register at Curative.com. Curative tests were developed in California and are the first oral fluid tests for COVID-19 in the United States. New Mexico was allocated a number of these tests to be administered for free, like all other COVID tests.

The Curative tests are less invasive than the nasopharyngeal tests, which require the inside of a patient’s nose to be swabbed. They are referred to as saliva tests due to a patient being able to self-administer the test by swabbing the insider of their mouth for a saliva sample.

The New Mexico Department of Health said in a press release on Nov. 23 that the saliva tests are “at least as accurate as the more traditional nasopharyngeal test swab.” On their website, the makers of Curative reported the test has a 90% sensitivity rate compared to the 80% sensitivity rate of nasopharyngeal tests. This means that if 10 COVID-positive people take a Curative test, nine will see a correct positive and one will have a false negative.

“We are grateful for the Department of Health and the work they are doing to mitigate the spread,” said Curry County Manager Lance Pyle said in Maez's release. “We know there have been challenges with the citizens of Curry County waiting for days and days to receive their test results and the state recognizes and acknowledges that frustration. Those tests have to travel all the way to Santa Fe before they can be processed by the state lab. The Curative tests are picked up at the end of the day and flown to out-of-state, Curative labs for processing and people are getting their results much faster which will allow our residents to isolate, take care of themselves, recover and get back to work.”

The addition of Clovis and Portales to the new testing sites comes after Curry County Manager Lance Pyle and Roosevelt County Manager Amber Hamilton sent a joint letter to Billy Jimenez, Secretary of NM Department of Health, asking for a share of the tests.

“We want to work with you and ensure rural New Mexicans also have access as well,” the letter read. “We feel our counties would have a strong participation and turnout to be able to provide the COVID-19 saliva test that has been approved by the FDA and can be self administered.”

The letter suggested testing locations at the Curry County Events Center and Roosevelt General Hospital.

“We are both very optimistic if 1,000 tests can be provided, those tests will be utilized in a timely and efficient manner and will work towards mitigating the spread in our respected counties,” the letter read.

The letter noted test positivity rates of 27.7% in Curry County and 19.1% in Roosevelt County, and that sites could be set up within four days.

Of the 10 test sites, the following six are within 100 miles of Clovis or Portales:

• Clovis Public Health Office: 1216 Cameo, 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, 8 a.m.-noon Thursday, 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Friday

• Portales Public Health Office: 1513 W. Fir St., 8:15 a.m.-11:15 a.m. Monday through Friday.

• Fort Sumner Public Health Office: 643 Fifth St., 8 a.m.-11 a.m. Monday/Wednesday/Friday.

• Lovington Public Health Office: 302 N Fifth St, 8:15 a.m.-11:15 a.m. Monday through Wednesday, 8 a.m.-10 a.m. Thursday through Friday.

• Tucumcari Public Health Office: 310 S. Second Street, 8:30 a.m.-11 a.m. Monday through Friday.

• Roswell Public Health Office: 200 E. Chisum St., 8:15 a.m.-11:30 a.m., 1 p.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 8:15 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Friday.