Antibody test results of 2 Snohomish County residents throw into question timeline of coronavirus

[matt819]

12. This is why testing is critical

For the disease and for antibodies. Data. Data. Data.

I know two people who were very sick in late January/early February. Flu, but not flu. Exhaustion, body feels heavy. Fever. In one of those cases, the person traveled to Florida and back to the northeast by air. There was talk of the virus then, but it was in the background. Granted, we don't seem to know whether having antibodies means not catching the disease. But it could provide useful information to scientists. Maybe it's pointless at this stage, with almost 1.5 million cases and 90,000 deaths, but I would think this information could be useful, as I'm sure there are thousands of people who believe they may have had the disease, and survived, before it became COVID-19 24X7.

As for general testing for the disease, I have repeatedly said this was critical. Sure, there may be lots of negatives, and that's fine. In fact, it may actually be good. But what about asymptomatic people? They feel fine but may be unwittingly spreading the disease far and wide, even with following precautions. And given that this is a disease with a fatality rate possibly up to 50x higher than the typical seasonal blue, one would think this would be valuable information. And I hope that a Joe Biden administration would put this into action on day 1. Or maybe day 2.