Dr. Anthony Fauci said Monday that U.S. health officials were preparing to roll out blood tests approved by the Food and Drug Administration that will identify Americans who have been exposed to the coronavirus and may harbor immunity.
Dr. Anthony Fauci said Friday that U.S. health officials were preparing to roll out blood tests approved by the Food and Drug Administration that will identify Americans who have been exposed to the coronavirus and may harbor immunity. With that data, he said, the government could in theory issue certificates of immunity to help hasten the reopening of normal life.
Unlike the swab tests used to diagnose whether a person is currently infected, antibody tests reveal the presence of immune proteins in the blood signifying a past infection — even one that caused no symptoms — that can protect against the disease in the future. They can also be harvested as a treatment for patients suffering from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. But many questions remain unanswered about the degree and longevity of coronavirus immunity.
Antibody tests are already being used in countries like China, Germany and Finland to track the spread of the coronavirus, but the U.S., which has by far the largest number of reported cases to date, has yet to make them widely available.
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