Antibody Testing Coming to St. Joe (7-26-20)

Antibody Testing Coming to St. Joe (7-26-20)

Kq2 news at six.) another form of coronavirus testing will soon be coming to st.

Joseph -- antibody testing.

Health experts say the test will show if people may have already been exposed to covid-19, whether they know it or not.

Kq2's alan van zandt explains why it's important to know <<(alan van zandt reporting) you remember that time back in january or february or maybe even early march when you had that nagging cold or flu that just wouldn't go away?

And now you think it might have been the coronavirus?

You might be right.(sot: dr. robert folk, infectious disease control dir., mosaic life care: "they may have been sick and they may have had symptoms and a negative flu test, their symptoms defied description at that point.

Maybe they had covid, maybe they didn't.") on monday staff at mosaic life care announced they are setting up appointments for free covid-19 antibody testing -- to see if you have been exposed to the corornavirus.

Their goal is to see what kind of herd immunity we might be developing to covid-19.

(sot: folk: "the concept of herd immunity is that if you put 100 people in a room, what percentage of people need to be antibody positive to protect the people who don't have antibodies.") a national study shows other testing around the nation has come up with anywhere from 1 to 7 percent positive for antibodies.

Experts say for full herd immunity to come into play, it needs to be closer to 60 to 70 percent.

The $250,000 funding for the local study is coming from buchanan county's share of federal cares act dollars.

(sot: lee sawyer: buch.

Co.

Presiding commisisoner: "early on we earmarked money for that because medical professionals at mosaic said that would be a good opportunity to see where we stand as a community.") experts stress that even testing positive for the covid-19 antibody doesn't mean you are immune from catching it again.(sot: folk: "if you have a positive antibody test you still need to do the same things that have been drilled into our heads these last 4 or 5 months: wash your hands, stand six feet apart and put on a mask.") registration is open for buchanan county residents over the age of 12 interested in getting a covid-19 antibody test.

You can sign up for a test by going online to www.my--m-l-c- dot-com-slash-testing.