as some states take steps to relax
lockdown rules officials stress it is
important that testing be used to keep
everyone safe but when it comes to the
antibody test we've heard so much about
it is important to know the facts
something I learned firsthand in a very
heart-stopping way positive for
coronavirus I've had it well I have it
right now it was not the result I
expected when I took a kovat 19 antibody
test
I am infectious right now okay so
quarantine my family and I took the test
because we thought my college-age
daughter may have previously had corona
virus she became ill after attending
Mardi Gras in New Orleans which is now a
kovat 19 hotspot the antibody test
consists of drawing a small amount of
blood sure enough my daughter's test
came back positive for the antibody
which means she had the corona virus
before but I was told my tests showed I
had the virus
right then this is my daughter's sample
and this is mine they don't know if the
virus itself that's huge positive those
results had me wiping down everything
with alcohol and self quarantined in the
guest room where I later got on the
phone with my primary care doctor she
was highly skeptical of my positive
result and suggested I try to get a
nasal swab test I'm going to get a nasal
swab which my physicians
is the only way to determine if one has
active coronavirus they came right to my
car window to administer the test Wow
for two and a half days I was on pins
and needles thank goodness the nasal
swab came back negative I did not have
active kovat 19 in fact the FDA
specifically says it is not aware of an
antibody test that has been validated
for diagnosis of the active virus
another important point there are only
four fda-approved tests for detecting
antibodies and mine was not one of them
with so many non-fda-approved tests
available that has the potential to be a
big problem if testing is key to
reopening society having those sort of
tests that where you don't and can't
trust your results is worse than having
no tests at all Kelly Wroblewski is the
director of infectious disease programs
at the association of public health
laboratories the antibody test shows
evidence that the virus was there it
could have been there six months ago it
could have been there three months ago
it could have been there a month ago it
doesn't indicate active disease dr.
Anthony Fauci the country's top medical
expert on coronavirus pandemics says
even if you do have the antibodies that
doesn't necessarily mean you're immune
there's an assumption a reasonable
assumption that when you have an
antibody that you are protected against
reinfection but that has not been proven
for this particular virus to be honest I
feel a little bit foolish about this and
I am only sharing my story one to spare
you the drama that we experienced and
more importantly to make sure that if
you do get tested you ask the right
questions so you can be confident about
the results
you
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