FREE Covid Antibody Testing- May 19 to 21, 2020- Buffalo, NY

The clinics will be set up in areas including Amherst, Buffalo, Cheektowaga, Depew, Hamburg, Lackawanna, Orchard Park, Springville and Williamsville, the Health Department said.

The appointments will be available in half-hour increments over three days from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Done with a blood draw from the arm.

The tests are for Erie County residents ages 11 and older and are being conducted by the Erie County Health Lab. They are free and the appointments will be given on a first-come, first-served basis. Parents of children under 11 should speak to their child’s pediatrician about testing if they are interested in getting that done.

To schedule an appointment, call the Covid-19 Information Line at 716-858-2929 any day between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Anyone coming to a testing site will be required to wear a cloth face covering or some other kind of mask. Antibody test results will be mailed within seven to 10 days.

These clinics are offering only antibody tests, not the nasal swabs that detect an active Covid-19 infection.Antibodies are proteins that help fight off infections. Antibody tests should not be used to diagnose someone as being currently sick with COVID-19.

Antibody tests can indicate past exposure to a disease, but a positive test does not necessarily mean you are immune to a future Covid-19 infection.”

Source: Buffalo News

  • A positive test result shows you have antibodies that likely resulted from an infection or possibly a related coronavirus.
  • It’s unclear if those antibodies can provide protection (immunity) against getting infected again. This means that we do not know at this time if antibodies make you immune to the virus.
  • If you have no symptoms, you likely do not have an active infection and no additional follow-up is needed. But remember, 25-75 of people who have covid are asymptomatic.
  • Antibodies are proteins that float around in your blood and, essentially, look for things that are not right. If a virus has invaded and hijacked your cells  to make thousands of clone viruses, for example, that’s not right. But the abnormality can be tricky to identify, because viruses can hide within our own cells.
  • Most humans have antibodies to the four coronaviruses that cause common colds, and it’s expected that antibodies to the new coronavirus will reliably develop in most people who are exposed to it. The question is how long will they last and how effective at preventing a second case.
  • Source: The Atlantic