Covid-19 antibody test shows St. Joseph nowhere near herd immunity

2,300 Buchanan County residents finally got the answer to the big question--did they actually have Covid-19?

The county's antibody testing is complete and doctors have mixed feelings about the results

Mosaic life care's month long antibody testing has wrapped up-- and the results are in.

Health experts say st.

Joseph is far from full herd immunity.

Sot: dr. kammerer, mosaic life care- "the way herd immunity is achieved is one of two ways: you either get a vaccine or you get the disease."

And st.

Joseph -- nowhere near herd immunity.

Sot: kammerer- "only 3% of the people turned out to be positive.

Now, that sounds like a bad thing.

It's a great thing."

Of the little more than 2,300 buchanan county antibody tests only 64 tested positive for actual antibodies.

Meaning for antibodies who believe they had the virus have it or if they..

Antibodies not found.sot: kammerer- "there are always people who do not respond to immunizations, who do not make antibodies to infections.

That does not necessarily confer the idea that they absolutely have no immunity to it, but it is highly suggestive of that."

Doctors say to get close to full herd immunity -- 60% of the population needs to have had the virusso what does it mean sitting at 3%...sot: kammerer- "it's a mixed blessing.

This is fantastic that only 3% penetrance into our community.

It means that our early efforts did very well.

The bad news is that that same grace and blessing to not have that, is the fact that we are nowhere near herd immunity which makes us much more reliant on the idea of a vaccine for our community than say new york.

Who is starting to get towards herd immunity at 25-30%."

So according to doctors herd immunity in buchanan county..

Doctors say either we need a vaccine or thousands of cases to reach herd immunity.

Until then to the basics sot: kammerer- "it's hand hygiene, it's wearing a mask and social distancing that's going to make a difference in keeping the infections to a dull roar."

"i think it's important to listen to what they're telling us and what the guidelines they're giving us, so that we can control this.

Perhaps next spring and next summer, we can get back to some sense of normalcy.

Without it, if we ignore what they tell us, if we ignore results, if we ignore daily totals, we'll be fighting this for much longer than necessary."

The chamber of commerce said they are looking into doing another round of covid-19 antibody testing unknownreporting in st.

Joseph, kilee thomas kq2 news 4 individuals who tested