The University of Washington Medicine Virology Lab is offering tests to check for coronavirus antibodies, reports KIRO7.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, COVID-19 antibody testing may indicate that "the person has been exposed to the virus and developed antibodies against it, which may mean that person has at least some immunity to the coronavirus."
Doctors can order the Abbott test from the UW lab online.
“This is an important, new type of testing that we haven’t had access to before,” said Keith Jerome, the director of the UW Medicine.
The test was rolled out last Tuesday, and UW researchers said its effectiveness showed a sensitivity of 100 percent and a specificity of 99.6 percent.
“Diagnostically, this is one of the best tests we can offer,” said Alex Greninger, assistant director of the UW Virology Lab.
“This is another turning point in the fight against this virus,” Jerome said.
The test requires a blood draw, which is then sent to UW labs.
UW said it can run 4,000 of the Abbott antibody tests a day.
“Within just a couple of weeks, we’ll be able to do 12,000 to 14,000 a day. And this starts to get the point where we can make a difference in the population of our area, get people back to work,” Jerome said.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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