UW-Madison to test students twice a week with new saliva-based COVID test

MADISON, Wis. (CBS 58) -- UW-Madison is getting ready to welcome back students for the spring semester with a new coronavirus response plan. 

Now, all students have to be tested twice a week with a brand new saliva-based test.

The new test will take some getting used to. It can be very sensitive, and messing up the test could mean an inconclusive result, which leads to retesting. 

"There's definitely a lot of frustration when your test gets rejected like three times and you have to keep coming back, because it's definitely something that's out of the way, it takes time to do, it's not as quick as the nasal," said junior Maggie Grote. 

The saliva test could allow UW-Madison to administer as many as 10,000 tests a day. 

Developers of the test say it could really help the school keep its students and faculty safe.