COVID-19 Update, May 31, 2020
Good afternoon! The state Department of Health (http://www.doh.wa.gov/) wants to keep you as informed as possible about continuing developments surrounding COVID-19 as well as guidance and resources you can share with employees, clients, or customers.
Antibodies to COVID-19
Antibodies are proteins that can fight off infections. Your body creates antibodies when your immune system responds to an infection. The antibodies that your body creates when you are infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 are made by your body specifically to attack that particular virus. After your body has fought off COVID-19, these antibodies are still in your blood and can tell us that you have had this virus.
This virus is new to us, and these antibodies are also new to us! Just like we are still learning about the virus, we are still learning about what it means for our health to have antibodies to this virus. If you’ve had COVID-19, the antibodies you made probably protect you from getting COVID-19 again for a while, but it’s not at all clear whether you might be protected for weeks, months, years, or forever.
Antibody tests
Antibody tests look for antibodies in your blood. You may also hear this test referred to as a “serology test,” which just means blood test. If we find antibodies in your blood, that means you have been infected with the virus that causes COVID-19. This may not be news to you. Or maybe it is! If you had COVID-19, these antibodies can be found in your blood whether you had any symptoms or not. Because it can take your body a couple weeks to make antibodies in response to a new virus, your health care provider will not use an antibody test to diagnose you with COVID-19. They will use a nasal swab that looks for the virus directly.
How many people have antibodies?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other researchers are planning studies to use antibody testing to help learn how common COVID-19 is and how many of us have already been infected with the virus that causes COVID-19. These studies may also help us learn how many people get COVID-19 but have very mild symptoms or no symptoms at all. Then we could use that information to help us make decisions around the things we do to keep ourselves safe, like social distancing. You can learn more about this research here: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/serology-surveillance/index.html
Can we share antibodies?
Some information suggests that plasma (the liquid part of the blood that has the antibodies in it) from people who have had COVID-19 can help other people recover from COVID-19. The Food and Drug Administration is still researching whether plasma from people who have recovered is safe and effective as a treatment for COVID-19. For more information about what the FDA is doing, see: https://www.fda.gov/vaccines-blood-biologics/investigational-new-drug-ind-or-device-exemption-ide-process-cber/recommendations-investigational-covid-19-convalescent-plasma
If you are eligible to donate blood and you have been fully recovered from COVID-19 for at least two weeks, you can consider donating plasma, which may help save the lives of people seriously ill from COVID-19 and may help us learn more about these antibodies! You can learn more here: https://www.fda.gov/emergency-preparedness-and-response/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19/donate-covid-19-plasma
Practice compassion. Even if you haven’t had COVID-19, please consider donating blood! Social distancing and cancelled blood drives have led to a shortage of blood. Please contact your local donation center and schedule a time for physically distant blood donation!
Wash your hands,
Lauren
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