Antibody tests for the coronavirus have arrived in Southwest Colorado.
Cedar Diagnostics announced Tuesday it has the capability to offer antibody tests, which allow patients to discover if they were infected with the virus and may have protective antibodies to fight against it.
However, there is uncertainty about the test’s reliability and whether antibodies provide immunity from infection.
Cedar Diagnostics also has offered testing since April 9 in Durango, Cortez and Pagosa Springs for people who might have contracted COVID-19.
Erich Kirshner, a spokesman for Cedar Diagnostics, said the lab can test as many people as needed.
“We’re not worried about capacity,” he said.
In a news release Tuesday, Cedar Diagnostics said the antibody test is for people who believe they have fully recovered from COVID-19.
“The antibody test is a serology, or blood, test and is very helpful in determining the degree of the spread, or prevalence, of the virus within our community,” Virginia Burdine, medical director at Cedar Diagnostics, said in a statement.
Abbott Laboratories created the test for Cedar Diagnostics, which uses it to detect the “IgG” antibody to the novel coronavirus. According to the news release, antibodies are produced in the body in late stages of infections and can remain in a person’s body for years after recovery.
Because the virus is novel, it’s unclear how long the antibodies stay in a human. But Burdine said the presence of antibodies might help some people get back to work.
“Employers, especially essential service providers, are interested in learning which of their employees have had the disease and have now recovered from it,” she said.
Michelle Roach, director of operations for Cedar Diagnostics, said the lab’s tests are more efficient than the finger-stick test, which have produced inconsistent results. The test Cedar Diagnostics uses was approved Monday by the Food and Drug Administration.
“The antibody test we’re offering utilizes a venous blood draw as opposed to a capillary finger stick,” Roach said in a statement. “We are using only the serum of the patient, as this is where the antibodies are located.”
Across the U.S., scientists are scrambling to develop tests that show immunity to the virus, which might help some people get back to work.
The FDA approved the first antibody test April 1, but questions linger about how long a person’s immunity may last. And tests usually show whether a person has antibodies to fight off COVID-19 but not necessarily how well it will fight off the virus.
San Juan Basin Public Health said it welcomes any opportunity to get a better understanding of the behavior of COVID-19 in its communities.
“We appreciate that Cedar Diagnostics is providing two tests for this purpose; the diagnostic polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test which determines if an individual is infected by the virus, and the antibody test which can indicate if patients were previously infected with the virus and now have antibodies to it, helping to understand prevalence of the disease,” SJBPH said in an emailed statement to The Durango Herald.
In a previous interview, SJBPH Executive Director Liane Jollon said antibody testing is another piece of the puzzle in combating the coronavirus outbreak, but a lot of unknowns remain with the disease that has been studied for only about 90 days.
“So we have to be really careful what we plan to do with that information,” Jollon said.
Antibody tests at Cedar cost $30, but the test is covered by health insurance, and there are financial contributions from the community to cover tests for people who don’t have the ability to pay on their own.
People who believe they might have contracted the virus should call 247-0937 (ext. 2 for Durango and Pagosa Springs, ext. 3 for Cortez) for testing.
jromeo@durangoherald.com
