While US struggles with test shortages, ultrawealthy enclaves arrange community testing

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3. Everyone Wants an Antibody Test. Everyone on This Private Island Can Get One.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/14/us/coronavirus-florida-fisher-island-tests.html
Everyone Wants an Antibody Test. Everyone on This Private Island Can Get One.
The tests show whether someone has been exposed to the coronavirus. They’re being provided to everyone in an exclusive Florida community that was able to pay for them.
By Patricia Mazzei
Published April 14, 2020

MIAMI — Things are different in Fisher Island, the exclusive enclave off Miami Beach that is one of the wealthiest places in America. No uninvited outsiders are allowed in. Entrance is permitted only by boat.

And everyone who lives or works there can now get tested to see if they have developed protective antibodies to the coronavirus.

The island has secured the much-sought-after tests for all its residents and their staff through the University of Miami, which has a clinic on site that started scheduling residents last week for appointments, building by building, for a finger-prick blood test. In a matter of minutes, each person learned their results. Home health aides and housekeepers also got tested.

The test is not the diagnostic nasal swab that detects active exposure to the virus. It will not tell someone with symptoms if they are sick.

What the antibodies tests can do is track how many people might have been exposed to the virus, helpful information for academics, experts and policymakers. For residents, the tests can reveal that, even if they did not experience symptoms, they might have already had a brush with the virus.