@merpreb Ha Ha!

@mayofeb2020 @zep @bvh176 We need to remember that development of such tests is usually measured in many months, if not years, not in days or weeks. Rushing products to market may work for the latest fad or gadget, but not for a critical medical test. There are many, many steps in proper validation for medical tests, and they take a long time. Before release, the test results generally undergo peer review as well. All of this was bypassed under emergency orders, and tests were allowed to be released with the assurance of validity by the developer alone.

In any other time, the current Covid-19 antibody tests would not see the light of day, much less be promoted, until tested by an independent laboratory and having the results peer-reviewed. Shortcuts can have serious, even deadly consequences. If a vulnerable person were to get a "false positive" result and stop taking precautions, then get Covid-19 ... I don't even want to think about it.

We also need a few more answers about what being positive for antibodies really means. Can one be reinfected, or do the antibodies confer immunity? If immune, for how long? If you can get reinfected, would it be more or less severe? And on and on... Again, these answers are beginning to emerge as scientists do their research, both for a vaccine and studying immunity. So far, what is coming out looks positive - that is, in primates and mice, antibodies seem to prevent reinfection by the virus, but until we know for sure, the test, at least for those of us at high risk, is immaterial.

As always, stay tuned for further developments

Sue

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