Would you pay $100 for a coronavirus antibody test? - Update

I would, only because if I was one of the asymptomatic ones, and I have "recovered" from it, I could donate plasma.

I’ve read that people who had recovered from this virus are showing up positive again after they had thought they were better. Is it a second case of it or has the original infecting virus gone through a reemergence and infecting you again? I wouldn’t be relying on a test yet at this point. I’d prefer to wait until more is known about this virus. It seems to keep doing unexpected things.

I can’t remember where I read this last week - maybe the NY Times - but there’s supposed to be some serious inconsistencies among the various antibody tests. The FDA dropped the requirement to approve the tests, so several companies rushed out new tests. I would hope that our states/municipalities would be doing due diligence before purchasing, but it would be hard for a Joe Citizen to confirm that. 

Interesting! I also had a rash on my neck/upper back/shoulder. At first I wondered if I was getting shingles, but then it sort of went away. Every once in a while, it flares up again for a day.

Is a rash a symptom of COVID19? I hadn't heard that!

Yes, because I’m in healthcare

Huh. Here’s another NYT article from just yesterday.

In case you don’t have NYT access, I just googled “COVID antibody test, accuracy,” and there were a lot of hits. It seems this is a looming problem. Good luck!

No, not until they are properly tested and results are  proved to be right..

From the WHO


Speaking in Geneva, the World Health Organization's (WHO) Dr Maria van Kerkhove cast doubt on the benefit of rapid serology tests due to a lack of evidence around coronavirus immunity.

She said: "There are a lot of countries that are suggesting using rapid diagnostic serological tests to be able to capture what they think will be a measure of immunity.

"Right now, we have no evidence that the use of a serological test can show that an individual has immunity or is protected from reinfection."

She added: "These antibody tests will be able to measure that level of seroprevalence - that level of antibodies but that does not mean that somebody with antibodies means that they are immune."

Dr van Kerkhove said it was "a good thing" that so many tests are being developed, but she added: "We need to ensure that they are validated so that we know what they say they attempt to measure they are actually measuring."



LINK

No

DH would do it in a heartbeat. He came down with something in February and he had a high fever and a horrific cough for close to a week. It was the sickest he’d been in probably 25 years. At the time no one was talking about Coronavirus. His bowling buddy’s wife had just come home from a girl’s trip to the Caribbean the weekend before, he bowled with that guy on Wednesday and by Friday he was feeling like crap. It took him out for that whole next week through that following Monday.

DD(9) also had something at that same time where she had a high fever (102.9F off and on for several days running) and a cough similar to what she had the previous Christmas. The e-visit doctor said it was flu but she was never actually tested. Aside from the fever and cough she didn’t seem sick at all, no fatigue, chills, aches, etc.

DH thinks it probably was Covid, but until/unless he did the antibody test he won’t really know.

I read somewhere else, can't find it at the moment that even those tests are not reliable either, as yet. What would be the point in having one though if the results are not reliable. If an unproven testing kit showed that you had antibodies, how would that help in any way .....just so that you could maybe tell yourself that you may have had it? That info is of no use to anyone if the test have no proven results. You're not safe to go back to work or safe from catching it from anyone else.

My friend had a terrible cough, fever, rash in the end of February and early March. She tested negative for everything so they chalked it up to allergies. I told her it may be COVID, but she was insistent it wasn’t be it wasn’t a dry cough. Now today she thinks she had it. I got mildly sick a few days later, so did my family, but nothing serious. I really really want to know who’s had it.