Posted on 04/12/2020 5:33:16 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
When will life return to normal, or at least a new normal?
A major answer to the question of when — and how — Americans can return to public places like work and school could depend on something called an antibody test, a blood test that determines whether someone has ever been infected with the coronavirus.
People who are believed to be immune may be able to safely return to work. It would be especially important to know which health care workers are protected from getting infected and could continue to care for sick people.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently announced that it would begin using antibody tests to see what proportion of the population has already been infected.
“Within a period of a week or so, we are going to have a relatively large number of tests available,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leading infectious disease expert in the U.S., said Friday morning on CNN.
He said the White House coronavirus task force was discussing the idea of “certificates of immunity,” which could be issued to people who had previously been infected.
“As we get to the point of considering opening the country,” Fauci said, “it is very important to understand how much that virus has penetrated society.” Immunity certificates, he said, had “some merit under certain circumstances.”
The idea of providing proof of immunity to allow workers to return to their jobs is being considered in many countries, including Britain and Italy. But as with any test, they are not perfect, and there have been problems with their accuracy.
Here’s what we know — and don’t know — about these tests.
What exactly is a serology test?
A serology test looks for signs of an immune response — in this case, to the new coronavirus.
(Excerpt) Read more at baltimoresun.com ...
IN DETAIL:
When your body encounters a virus, it takes some time for it to recognize the invader and begin to scale up an immune response. Immune molecules called antibodies are a crucial part of this response.
The first type of antibody to appear is called immunoglobulin M, or IgM, and its levels spike within a few days of infection. But IgM is a generic fighter. To target and destroy a specific virus, the body refines it into a second type of antibody, called immunoglobulin G, or IgG, that can recognize that virus.
As IgG levels rise, IgM levels drop; IgG levels peak around 28 days after the onset of infection.
There is a third type of antibody, called IgA, that is present in mucosal tissues — like the inner lining of the lung. IgA is known to be important for fighting respiratory infections such as influenza and is likely to be central in coronavirus infections, too.
Many of the tests being developed look for levels of all three antibodies; some look for just IgM and IgG, and still others test for only one type.
SELF-EMPLOYED....I don’t need no stinkeeen tests!
Do you have employees?
When Dr. Faust says we can.
Who the f cates?? Outside of healthcare workers no one is required to prove titers
There is no vaccine so it’s not like you can do anything about it
I ain’t gonna test to prove anything
Show me your papers. Show me your papers
Is this significantly more contagious or deadly than all the other viruses? We’ve never had to provide proof of immunity to allow workers to return to their jobs for any other virus.
Kinda late to be asking this question.
The CDC/NIH/FDA should have been prepared for years with all of their generic Pandemic planning task to roll out a test like this in high volume in short order.
Fuaxcy was supposed to be an expert in charge of a large bureaucracy.
HERE ARE SOME STATISTICS AS PER THE ARTICLE:
The tests are more effective at detecting the presence of antibody responses across large numbers of people, not just to determine who is immune but how widely the virus has spread in the population.
Between 25% to 50% of people who become infected may never develop symptoms, and some may become only mildly ill. Others may have known they were sick but could not get tested. Serology tests would be able to identify these people and help scientists better estimate the death rate of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.
RE: Is this significantly more contagious or deadly than all the other viruses?
I would say, compared to the flu, ABSOLUTELY.
We never had to worry about disinfecting surfaces or viruses hanging on to metals or floating in the air for a period of time with the flu.
Also personally, I’ve never seen any friend or people I know hospitalized because of the flu.
With CoVid-19, I already lost 3 friends in NY, and quite a number are sick.
I”m not against doing studies to determine how much the virus has spread, etc. I was addressing statement in the article: “The idea of providing proof of immunity to allow workers to return to their jobs is being considered in many countries, including Britain and Italy.”
This whole virus thing is growing on me like a wart.
So if I HAVEN’T had the flu, I can’t go back to work until I HAVE???
Antibody testing each individual to clear them to return to work is a logistical impossibility.
They’ll test a big enough representative sample to prove that the models were crap.
Besides, what would you do with the people who test negative? Expose them to the virus?
SELF-EMPLOYED....I don’t need no stinkeeen tests!
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Do you have customers with whom you must come face-to-face? If so, I smell COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE if you’re immune...for a while, anyhow.
I too am self-employed. No employees, very limited in-person contact with others since everything is done electronically. Will not agree to being tested. This is supposedly America, not Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia.
Fauci can go urinate up a rope, right after he shoves his “directives” where the sun don’t shine.
No, because the research doctors don’t know enough about the virus with respect to immunity, yet. In recovered patients, antibody levels have varied greatly, and coronaviruses in general continue to mutate.
For example, a person can be ill from the same type of influenza twice in different seasons.
Who the f put one unelected dude in charge of whether we get the constitution or not? Our country was never meant to live under “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one.” I think that was Star Trek and it admitted to being wrong too, if I recall.
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