I was offered a coronavirus antibody test

By Alex P. Vidal

“If the world after coronavirus is not going to be a much more greener, much more environmentally friendly, and much more vegetarian world, human beings will deserve a much worse virus than coronavirus!” ―Mehmet Murat Ildan

A FILIPINO-American friend who works in a health clinic in Manhattan informed me on April 27 the coronavirus antibody test is now available in New York City and she wanted me to avail of it soon.

The friend, who did not want to be identified, asked if I had insurance so she could help facilitate the test for me. She also asked if I had a primary doctor.

I told her yes I have insurance, but didn’t answer whether I had a primary doctor.

“I’ll ask a doctor,” she volunteered. “I will ask a favor for you and I will let you know soon.”

We learned this week that antibody tests that show whether someone has recovered from the COVID-19 were being rolled out to primary care offices and urgent care across the city.

Governor Andrew Cuomo bragged that as “a major key to restarting the economy,” the tests can tell the patients whether their immune system has fought off the bug, even if they never had symptoms.

Dozens of primary care offices across New York City’s five boroughs and Long Island that are offering the test for patients who think they may have been exposed or had a mild case of the bug, but were never able to get tested, had been discovered.

The Vox reported that the tests don’t give as much information as one might think. For one thing, it reportedly does not measure the quality of the antibodies.

For another, it indicates exposure to a coronavirus, but it might be another one in the same family. Coronaviruses also cause the common cold.

 

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Four other coronaviruses circulate in people throughout the world, according to Stat News, causing about 25 percent of all common colds. Given that almost everyone carries antibodies to some combination of these, Stat News said “serological tests for SARS-CoV-2 would need to be able to differentiate among them.”

Even if a person tests positive and is determined to have been infected with the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, there is no firm evidence that exposure guarantees immunity, the World Health Organization (WHO) said last week.

“No study has evaluated whether the presence of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 confers immunity to subsequent infection by this virus in humans,” the WHO said in a statement on Friday.

According to a report by the Post, CityMD, an urgent care chain with over 100 locations in New York and New Jersey, sent an email out to patients late April 27 announcing they have the antibody test available starting April 28.

New Yorkers seeking to get tested for the coronavirus had to either be a first responder, health care worker, or languishing in a hospital bed to receive the coveted test while the antibody exam hadn’t even been developed yet, just several weeks ago.

LabCorp announced last week their antibody test will now be available at nearly 2,000 testing locations, accessible with a doctor’s note, and tens of thousands of doctor’s offices nationwide, including in New York.

The Post reported that the testing giant currently can perform more than 50,000 of the tests each day and hopes to increase that capacity to 200,000 per day by mid-May.

Experts previously told the Post that when people fight off viruses, they develop antibodies that make them immune to the bug, at least for a short period of time.

 

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COVID-19 survivors can expect “some level of protection” after recovering from the virus but more research needs to be done before they can know how long that immunity lasts, how strong it is, and if everyone develops it the same way, the World Health Organization announced last week.

It was learned that hospitals across the Big Apple have been offering antibody testing for about a month through their plasma donation programs but had strict requirements.

Many had to prove they were positive by showing a doctor or lab note and many had to be re-tested and show they were negative before they could get the test.

Those requirements are now reportedly being relaxed at urgent care and primary care offices.

Read the CityMD email: “Please be aware there is substantial evidence that people may have been infected without ever being symptomatic.

Depending on the timing of the infection, the blood test will also detect the IgG antibodies in this population. Patients who believe they were exposed and want to be tested should discuss their situation with a CityMD provider.”

The email advised symptomatic patients, but not sick enough to be tested for the coronavirus, to wait 2-4 weeks after the symptoms end to get tested because it takes some time for the antibodies to show up in the blood.

They said the test is “nearly 100% accurate” when done more than 14 days after symptoms end. The e-mail said Patients can expect results within 3-5 days.

It cautioned that the test does not prove immunity and urged patients to “continue to practice an abundance of caution with distancing and self-protection” until further testing is done to prove the antibodies bring long-lasting immunity with them.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)