Has anyone had a CV-19 antibody test?

[spiders]

For the folks who have gotten or who are getting the antibody test - what is your reasoning behind it? What can you do with the information - besides just know if you have the antibodies or not - once your results come back? Will the test results allow you to travel or see other people you might not be able to without the test? Is it a condition of your employment or a condition to be able to enter certain facilities?

I'm just genuinely curious what the needs are for the test - besides just knowing if you have had it or not - across the population. What can you do with the results?

I realize they aren't certain if you are immune to it but I am genuinely curious. I won't be doing anything differently regardless of the result but I do want to know. I'm still going to work and we've had positive cases so I want to know.

On that note, I went today to one of my local urgent cares. I was in and out in under 30 minutes.

 

[JoanneAZ]

The hospital where I work is offering it to the employees. If someone comes back positive they will be asked if they will donate plasma to see if giving it to people with an active infection will assist recovery. I was drawn today and should get the results in 2-7 days. If I had coronavirus it was very light or asymptotic.

 

[Tallis]

Eight of the nine of us had COVID -19 starting the last week of February after the guys in our family returned from a week of working in February. We tested positive for the virus. All are well now. We were asked to take the antibodies test. Three adults agreed, including myself. Blood was drawn our regular doctor and sent to Quest. Two of returned negative for antibodies. They lost the third person's sample.
You have it, you don't have, you have it, you don't it, this one doesn't exist. ..... don't care anymore. Whatever.

 

[easyas123]

Ah- the plasma donation if positive makes sense. Thanks!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Eight of the nine of us had COVID -19 starting the last week of February after the guys in our family returned from a week of working in February. We tested positive for the virus. All are well now. We were asked to take the antibodies test. Three adults agreed, including myself. Blood was drawn our regular doctor and sent to Quest. Two of returned negative for antibodies. They lost the third person's sample.
You have it, you don't have, you have it, you don't it, this one doesn't exist. ..... don't care anymore. Whatever.

That is very interesting, thanks for sharing.

What a nightmare for you all.

Hope everyone is better now.

 

[JoanneAZ]

The hospital where I work is offering it to the employees. If someone comes back positive they will be asked if they will donate plasma to see if giving it to people with an active infection will assist recovery. I was drawn today and should get the results in 2-7 days. If I had coronavirus it was very light or asymptotic.

Well, my results are back already and negative. I was hoping I’d already had an asymptomatic case.

 

[Tallis]

That is very interesting, thanks for sharing.

What a nightmare for you all.

Hope everyone is better now.

Thank you so much. We are all doing great.

Just confused about the testing procedures and really question the accuracy of the antibody testing. If anyone is on the fence about it, I would wait a bit until they get better testing. It shouldn't be too long before there are good ones out there. Nearly every single day there is some news about different ones.

We will likely repeat antibody testing once there are FDA approved ones or at least have ones with proven reliability.

 

[HashberryOTG]

I've been wishing so much this could be a useful test, but it's simply not yet. I'm very curious and still might give in and get one. Near the beginning of all this, right after everything shut down, both my husband and I had some awful symptoms about 2 days apart from each other. Butt kicked for 2 days, then gone just as fast as it came. I know there is no point in getting a test with such a high error rate, and us not knowing if it even means anything (can I still carry, can I still get it again, etc), but I can't wait to find out someday if possible!

 

[wvjules]

Well, my results are back already and negative. I was hoping I’d already had an asymptomatic case.

Why?

 

[JoanneAZ]

Why?

So that I wouldn't have to worry any more about getting it.

 

[wvjules]

So that I wouldn't have to worry any more about getting it.

Can you show me where having the antibodies means that you are immune?

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

Why?

It would give some people peace of mind knowing that if they survived it once, they probably would again if they aren’t immune.

 

[holden]

DH got the test yesterday and the results are back. He is negative.

He was super sick for four weeks in late January into February. We had travel through two airports in late January (trip to Disney). All of his symptoms mirrored covid. He was even using an inhaler regularly because of breathing difficulties. At first we thought it was flu. He took Tamiflu and it didn’t help at all. After four weeks he started to feel a little better. By six weeks out he was back to normal.

I was sure it was covid and am shocked that his results are negative. He took the test because we thought if he had it at least we’d know what his reaction was of he were to get it again.

His brother is chief of medicine at our local hospital. He told DH his results would be negative. He was right.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Can you show me where having the antibodies means that you are immune?

https://www.physiciansweekly.com/covid-19-do-antibodies-confer-immunity/
Yes, but for how long? The devil is in the details.

The consensus among those studying the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection is that antibodies do, in fact, equal immunity.

But the devil, as always, is in the details, according to Arturo Casadevall, MD, PhD, chair of the molecular microbiology and immunology department at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

“We only have five months of experience with this organism,” Casadevall told BreakingMED, so it’s not surprising that a lot of questions remain open, including how long immunity might last.

And, he noted that an April 25 Twitter message from the World Health Organization, which suggested there is “currently no evidence” that antibodies in recovered patients equals immunity, was “inappropriate.”

WHO quickly stepped back from that position, saying that it accepts that most people who recover will have an antibody response that offers “some level of protection” to Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

 

[Pyotr]

I scheduled an appointment for myself next Tuesday to be tested. Curiosity got the best of me.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

DH got the test yesterday and the results are back. He is negative.

He was super sick for four weeks in late January into February. We had travel through two airports in late January (trip to Disney). All of his symptoms mirrored covid. He was even using an inhaler regularly because of breathing difficulties. At first we thought it was flu. He took Tamiflu and it didn’t help at all. After four weeks he started to feel a little better. By six weeks out he was back to normal.

I was sure it was covid and am shocked that his results are negative. He took the test because we thought if he had it at least we’d know what his reaction was of he were to get it again.

His brother is chief of medicine at our local hospital. He told DH his results would be negative. He was right.

Why was he so sure?

 

[_19disnA]

Yes, but for how long? The devil is in the details.

.....and the details say they do NOT yet know if having antibodies = immunity.

From that same article....................

How Long Will Immunity Last?
But how much protection, and for how long, remain unknown, the agency said.

Later in the article they also state.............................
But the period of immunity can be lifelong — as with measles — or last mere months, as with norovirus, Casadevall said, and it’s simply too early to tell what will happen with SARS-CoV-2.

.....................................................
Having antibodies means nothing if it doesn't result in having immunity. I am not aware of ANY reputable medical organization yet concluding you have immunity if you have antibodies.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I think you cherry picked the quotes from that article. It also states..................

How Long Will Immunity Last?

But how much protection, and for how long, remain unknown, the agency said.

Having antibodies means nothing if it doesn't result in having immunity. I am not aware of ANY reputable medical organization yet concluding you have immunity if you have antibodies.

I was hoping people would read the whole article, but since that doesn't always happen here, I pointed out the pertinent parts that were asked about. Fact is that it's a new virus so they can't say for sure how long immunity will last.


And just a big fat to your last sentence. You were just made aware.

ETA
https://www.physiciansweekly.com/about-us/

 

[holden]

Why was he so sure?

DH's brother feels that the risk to the general public (in our area anyway) is minimal. He said the only cases of Covid they've had at the hospital have been from nursing homes/long term care facilities.

We are in a county in PA that is still under the stay at home order. Some areas in our county have been hit hard with cases. Our county boarders Philadelphia.

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

Got my results