Healthcare Express will begin offering an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) COVID-19 antibody test starting on April 27, 2020.
Did you self-quarantine and now wonder if it’s safe for you to return to work? Did you experience what you thought was a bad cold or thought you had flu but didn’t test positive? Have you wondered if it was COVID-19?
When our body fights an infection, it creates proteins, called antibodies, that help your immune system fight off the virus. Those antibodies remain after the infection is gone and can tell you exactly which infections your body has been fighting. Diagnostic testing for people experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 can only tell someone if they’re currently infected, but the new antibody tests offered at HealthCARE Express, however, reveals whether someone may have been infected in the past.
Antibody testing, also called serology testing, is used to identify the presence of an immune response to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. It is a critical component of our nation’s response to the pandemic. These tests are only intended to detect IgG and IgM antibodies related to the virus. The test we use tests two different antibodies: Immunoglobulin G (IgG) and Immunoglobulin M. IgG antibodies appear within 7-20 days of infection and can remain from 6 months to several years. IgM antibodies appear in the same timeframe as IgG, but their numbers peak after 80 days of infection and begin to fade away within 6 months of infection. This test does not diagnose an active infection. For antibodies to be detected, you must be symptom-free (no fever or cough) for two weeks prior to testing. The test is a simple and easy blood test and results come back within 1-3 days. The antibody testing is most accurate for people who experienced symptoms of COVID-19 at least 14 days ago.
For more information, visit https://www.healthcareexpress.us/covid-19-antibody-testing/.
