Not sure why COVID-19 antibody testing has taken such a prominent position in the coverage surrounding the pandemic recently? From being a way to gauge how widespread the novel coronavirus is to getting people and the global economy back on track, COVID-19 antibody testing is about to become an important part of our battle against the virus.
COVID-19 continues to shape our daily reality and how we go about living our lives. After the major upheaval of the last few months, things have started to return to some semblance of normal as things gradually reopen. But the recent figures coming out of the United States show just how precarious a balancing act it is to open up economies again as America has seen its number of daily cases explode across the country after doing so. With COVID-19 antibody testing still not widely available across the world, here are a few of the main reasons why it's so important that this type of testing becomes more accessible.
Ichor has you covered
If you're looking for COVID-19 antibody testing, Ichor Blood Services has you covered. We've recently begun accepting bookings for our COVID-19 serology antibody testing collection service. Your sample is then shipped to our laboratory testing partner, who will determine if you have potentially been exposed to the virus and now have the antibodies for it. For more information on our COVID-19 serology antibody testing collection service, click the button below.
Why COVID-19 antibody testing is important
It's still early days when it comes to SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes the disease COVID-19. Being that this is a novel coronavirus, there's still so much about the virus that we don't know. Its long-term effects being chief among the unknowns. One way we can try to better understand the virus is by knowing just how many people have actually been infected by it. This will help us paint a better picture of the virus' lethality, seriousness, and our potential for creating herd immunity against it. COVID-19 antibody testing seems to be our best bet so far when it comes to crystallizing the answers to those questions.
Prevalence
We really have no clue as to how widespread COVID-19 is. There were estimates that by around this time of the pandemic, certain countries could expect up to 70 per cent of their population to have been infected by the virus. In the few examples we have where jurisdictions executed large scale antibody testing to see if those earlier estimates were somewhat accurate, the results have been disheartening to say the least. Not nearly as many people were shown to have the antibodies for COVID-19 as expected. But just because the results weren't what we were hoping for doesn't mean the method was wrong.
As it stands, antibody testing remains the most viable way to tell whether a large portion of any given population has been infected or come in contact with the virus. Why's that you might ask? Because the antibodies that are created following a bout of SARS-CoV-2 remain within our bodies for a much longer time than the genetic material of the virus itself. This allows for a greater window to detect the prevalence of the virus across our world, which will hopefully lead to answers when it comes to determining just how deadly and serious the virus is on an average basis.
Herd immunity
Herd immunity is one of the strategies that's being bandied about when it comes to beating COVID-19. The way herd immunity works is pretty simple. Enough people become infected with a disease and develop antibodies against it, halting the spread of it since there are no more suitable hosts for it to survive in. But without knowing how many people have been infected with SARS-CoV-2, we can only guess at the level of herd immunity any given group of people have. And this is where COVID-19 antibody testing comes into play again. If we can roll out widespread antibody testing and get an idea of where we are with herd immunity, we may be able to reopen businesses and other aspects of our lives to pre-COVID standards. The major caveat when it comes to herd immunity for SARS-CoV-2 of course is the unknown nature and ability of the virus to reinfect people, along with the uncertainty about what future protection most people are afforded by having the antibodies for it and how long that protection lasts.
Looking for COVID antibody testing Calgary? Ichor Blood Services has you covered. Book your appointment today to see if you've come in contact with the virus and now have the antibodies for it.
Immunity passports
Another way to combat the virus that's being discussed is the possibility of 'immunity passports' for those who have the antibodies for COVID-19. There is emerging evidence that people who have contracted the diseases are immune to reinfection, at least for a short period of time. The theory behind immunity passports is that by proving you have the antibodies for COVID-19, you should be allowed to travel freely much like the passport from your country allows you to. Once again, the best way to determine who has the antibodies for COVID-19 is, you guessed it, through antibody testing. While the idea of immunity passports is still in its infancy, it's being looked at as a way to allow workers and frontline health care staff return to their jobs in a safe manner. While opponents of the idea cite ethical and moral objections based upon the grounds of differentiating one subset of the population from another, immunity passports are theoretically a good way to identify those who are immune from the virus, at least for a short period of time as current research indicates. Who has access to that information and what its used for are what its opponents are most worried about.
As you can see, all three of the above tactics when it comes to combatting COVID and emerging victorious from our battle against the virus rely heavily on antibody testing. Without a widespread rollout of the testing procedure from the world's governments, the private industry must step up to fill the void much like Ichor Blood Services is doing.
Contact us
If you're looking for COVID antibody or active PCR testing, Ichor Blood Services has you covered. For more information about our COVID-19 test collection services, please give us a call at 1-844-424-6728 or fill out our contact form.
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