Spectrum Health Lakeland is starting to offer COVID 19 antibody testing in Southwest Michigan. The antibody tests are a tool used to learn how widely spread the virus is in a community.
The COVID-19 antibody test can determine if someone has fought off the virus at some point. It does not determine if a person is currently infected with the virus.
Joe Brown is the director of laboratory services at Spectrum Health Lakeland. He says the antibody test can help get a more accurate number of how many people have had the coronavirus.
“An antibody test can rule in, or rule out an infection some had was COVID-19," he says. "It’s a way of knowing one way or another, did you get exposed to it and did you fight it off.”
Brown says it takes the body about 10 days after being exposed to the coronavirus to develop antibodies, so people should wait until at least then to get the test.
Spectrum Health Lakeland officials say they have the capacity to test roughly 1,000 people each day.
Brown says the presence of antibodies does not mean someone is immune to the coronavirus.
People interested in getting the antibody test need a doctor’s note and should call to make an appointment with Spectrum Health Lakeland. There is a fee for the test.
Contact Annacaroline at acaruso@wvpe.org or follow her on Twitter at @AnnacarolineC16
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