Originally posted April 28th, 2020 on Facebook

Friends,
Karen Parrott just informed me that Quest Diagnostics has released an antibody test for SARS-2 that you can order online without visiting your doctor. You will still need to visit a lab and have your blood drawn and the test will be performed at a Quest facility. It remains to be seen if the general public will be offered the test right away, or if only essential workers will get the test initially. If you order the test, please let me know about your experience!

The test only detects IgG antibodies, and not IgM (see my April 22nd post). Thus, it can tell you if you were exposed to the virus more than 7 days ago, but not necessarily if you are currently infected. The test has not yet received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) status, but Quest claims it is based on well known technology and will receive EUA status soon. No information on the likelihood of false negatives or false positives have yet been published. A false negative result is more likely than a false positive result for this kind of test.

If you take this test, make sure you read all the material they give you on interpretation! The list cost of the test is $119.

Full disclosure, I worked at Quest for 15 years, but I don’t work for them now, and have no financial connection to them.

Thanks,
Erik

Quest Diagnostics Launches Consumer-Initiated COVID-19 Antibody Test Through QuestDirect™