A Reality Check Undercuts Hopes Of Immunity Cards, Antibody Tests To Help Reopen Economy
There had been lots of talk about the key role antibody tests could play in lifting shut-down measures. But scientists in Italy are dousing those hopes with a bucket of cold water. “We don’t know if everyone who has had the disease has developed an acceptable protective immunity,” said Dr. Alessandro Venturi, the president of the San Matteo hospital in the Lombardy town of Pavia. In other news, testing remains patchy across the U.S., even as states continue to try to ramp up efforts.
The New York Times:
Italians Find Promise Of Antibodies Remains Elusive, For Now
Cooped up, stir crazy and desperate for their lives back, many Europeans and Americans have seized on antibodies and their promise of potential immunity to the coronavirus as the golden ticket to reopen societies and economies. Not long ago, politicians in Italy — which, as the epicenter of Europe’s contagion, is further in the pandemic’s cycle than other Western nations — proposed issuing licenses to those who had beaten the virus and developed the right antibodies to get back to work. Researchers and politicians in China, the United States, Germany, Britain and beyond have latched onto antibodies as a potential solution to the virus and an outlet from containment measures. (Horowitz, 5/3)
Boston Globe:
Massachusetts Researchers Are On Front Lines Of Coronavirus Antibody Testing
Scientists and doctors across Massachusetts are mobilizing to address two of the most baffling questions of this pandemic: How widely has the coronavirus spread — and if you’ve been infected, do you have lasting immunity? The answers lie in the antibody test — a pinprick of blood that captures the body’s immune response. Researchers say such testing is the foundation upon which policymakers can determine when the Commonwealth can safely, fully reopen. (Ostriker, 5/3)
The Wall Street Journal:
Roche Coronavirus Antibody Test Wins FDA Approval For Emergency Use
The Food and Drug Administration has cleared for emergency use an antibody test from diagnostics giant Roche Holding AG, the company said Sunday, a move that could add significant capacity to efforts to determine the wider spread of Covid-19. Roche’s test, which identifies antibodies made by the body to fight off the new coronavirus, is designed to tell people whether they have been infected in the past. For many diseases, antibodies remain in the blood for weeks, months or even years after infection. Antibody tests are performed on a blood sample and are different from the swab tests used to diagnose a current infection. (Roland, 5/3)
The Associated Press:
Georgia Deploys 3D Printers, Guard Units In Testing Scramble
Seeing a chance to help amid a shortage of kits to test people for the coronavirus, Dr. Jeffrey James dedicated a 3D printer at the dental college where he teaches to churning out nasal swabs at a rate of 300 per day. Then Georgia officials working with Gov. Brian Kemp heard about the project. They asked James if he could crank up swab production even more — to 5,000 daily.“I said yes,” James recalled, “then I left the meeting and had a panic attack.” (Collins and Bynum, 5/4)
Boston Globe:
Somerville And L.A. Are Offering Coronavirus Testing For Everyone. But What Does That Mean, And Why Isn’t Boston Doing It? - The Boston Globe
When the mayor of Los Angeles announced this week that the city would be making COVID-19 testing available to all its residents, regardless of whether they were symptomatic, the announcement left some in Boston scratching their heads. Why could a sprawling city of roughly 4 million people offer universal testing, while Boston cannot? As scientists have learned more about asymptomatic carriers who spread the coronavirus even when they don’t know they have it, widespread testing and subsequent isolation of people who test positive has been touted as essential to containing and ending this crisis. (Greenberg, 5/2)
Kaiser Health News:
Testing In California Still A Frustrating Patchwork Of Haves And Have-Nots
Months into the spread of the coronavirus in the United States, widespread diagnostic testing still isn’t available, and California offers a sobering view of the dysfunction blocking the way. It’s hard to overstate how uneven the access to critical test kits remains in the nation’s largest state. Even as some Southern California counties are opening drive-thru sites to make testing available to any resident who wants it, a rural northern county is testing raw sewage to determine whether the coronavirus has infiltrated its communities. (Barry-Jester, Hart and Bluth, 5/4)
And some warn about limitations of contact tracing technology —
ABC News:
‘A Distraction’? Experts Warn Of Limitations Of Tech For Contact Tracing
The fight against COVID-19 has been marked in part by the development of emerging technologies and leaders eager to embrace them. But as the private sector races to develop a digital system for contact tracing, a key weapon in the battle to rid the virus, experts say the time-honored human approach is still the best. (Bruggeman, 5/4)
ABC News:
What It Takes To Be A COVID-19 Contact Tracer In NYC
Out-of-work New Yorkers looking to secure employment as New York City COVID-19 contact tracers -- tracking the spread of the virus in an effort to contain it during the city's recovery phase -- will need what some might see as a surprising prerequisite. According to the job posting, qualified candidates must have the "ability to understand the concepts of institutional and structural racism and bias and their impact on underserved and underrepresented communities." (Schumaker, 5/3)
