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What Next | Daily News and Analysis

TBD | Should You Get an Antibody Test?

What Next | Daily News and Analysis

Slate Podcasts

News, News Commentary, Daily News

4.32.4K Ratings

🗓️ 8 May 2020

⏱️ 23 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Yesterday, New York City announced that it would provide 140,000 free antibody tests to residents who want to know if they have been exposed to the coronavirus. And New York isn’t alone: large-scale antibody testing is ramping up around the country. But with faulty tests flooding the market and questions about whether a positive test really confers immunity are antibody tests really worth the bother? Guests: Shannon Palus, staff writer for Slate, and Dr. Natalie E. Dean, assistant professor of biostatistics at the University of Florida. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

So I wanted to ask you, I guess first off, why did you decide to get an antibody test?

0:12.3

I mean, the main reason I got an antibody test is because my editor asked me to get an

0:16.7

antibody test.

0:18.4

That's Shannon Paulis, who writes about science for sleep.

0:22.1

And her editor asked her to get one of these tests, because Shannon has spent the last

0:26.0

few months trying to answer basic questions that everyone seems to be asking.

0:31.3

What type of mask should you wear?

0:33.3

If you need to wear one when you run, whether you should pay attention to some of the

0:37.2

weirder symptoms of the virus.

0:40.0

This week, that question is, should you bother getting an antibody test?

0:44.0

That's a test that can show whether someone has been exposed to the novel coronavirus.

0:48.8

In most diseases, the presence of antibodies signals immunity.

0:53.1

With COVID, scientists think there's probably some kind of immunity, but they don't know

0:57.8

how much or for how long.

1:00.4

If you had a positive test, you could potentially donate some of these antibodies to help patients

1:05.2

who are currently sick and fighting the virus.

1:08.3

I was also though, it just excrued my curious and interested in getting one, because I'd

1:13.0

live in New York and I've been quarantining in Perk slope and I hear sirens all the time,

1:18.6

and I've not allowed to do anything.

1:20.6

I didn't really have much else going on yesterday.

1:24.2

I thought, hey, I'll see if I've had the novel coronavirus maybe today.

1:31.2

Did you have to make an appointment or were you able to just show up?

...

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