As the United States works overtime to screen thousands for the novel coronavirus, a new blood test offers the chance to find out who may have immunity — a potential game-changer in the battle to contain infections and get the economy back on track.
Several academic laboratories and medical companies are rushing to produce these blood tests, which can quickly identify disease-fighting antibodies in people who already have been infected but may have had mild symptoms or none at all. This is different from the current, sometimes hard-to-come-by diagnostic tests that draw on a nasal swab to confirm active infection.
"Ultimately, this (antibody test) might help us figure out who can get the country back to normal," said Florian Krammer, a professor in vaccinology at Mount Sinai's Icahn School of Medicine. "People who are immune could be the first people to go back to normal life and start everything up again."