Antibody Tests and the COVID-19 Pandemic: What Do They Really Mean as the World Yearns for a Return to Normal Life?

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted lives across all corners of the globe and we are all eager to go back to “normal.” But the hard truth is that, short of an effective vaccine being developed, return to normal life will need to happen in a tiered approach and with careful consideration of potential risks and benefits around decisions that not long ago were trivial. Key personal decisions will depend on people assessing their risk of getting sick and/or spreading the virus in the community, and for this reason a lot of attention is being devoted to antibodies and the serological tests used to detect them.

In this scenario, there are two critical open questions which can influence how large a role serological tests will play in the upcoming months as the world slowly moves to the next stage of the fight against this catastrophic pandemic. They are:

1. Do Antibodies really provide immunity against COVID-19?
2. Are serological tests available today reliable enough to guide such critical decisions?

Download this article, and explore in detail the potential answers to these questions based on currently available information.