Are Home Covid-19 Antibody Tests Accurate?
PCR or rapid antigen tests are of extreme popularity these days. They enable us to quickly check whether a person is sick of coronavirus in the present day or not. Yet, antibody test for COVID-19 also has their scope of application.
Let’s learn more about at-home antibody tests, their essential benefits over laboratory diagnosis, and how accurate they are.
What Are COVID-19 Antibody Tests?
COVID-19 antibody tests are also called “tests for past infection.” It’s because these are serology tests looking for antibodies formed due to the organism fighting an infection. They are indicated positive in one of two cases:
- A person was sick with COVID-19 2-3 weeks ago.
- A person had a vaccination against COVID-19 2-3 weeks ago.
They are typically recommended to make after a few weeks after infection vaccination. Just to confirm that it was coronavirus or that the vaccine worked. Besides, health care professionals use the information on the antibody test results in clinical practice to deliver treatment, for instance.
Benefits of COVID-19 Antibody Tests
Here are some ways in which antibody coronavirus tests are advantageous:
- It can be done at home. The best part is that you can order covid antibody test home from a local laboratory services provider. It is as simple as just scheduling an appointment and waiting for a nursing specialist to do the work without compromising your safety or testing accuracy.
- Do not require specific knowledge to perform. If you don’t mind taking a blood sample yourself, you can order an antibody kit online and conduct taking on your own. It’s not recommended, but since this option does exist, let’s refer to it as a benefit.
- Do not have contraindications. An antibody test is just taking a blood sample. So, no individual can have it even if it’s done in a non-controlled environment.
Now, let’s proceed with evaluating how accurate antibody testing is.
How Reliable At-Home COVID-19 Antibody Tests
The ideal conditions for COVID-19 antibody tests are three weeks after infection/ vaccination and taking a blood sample by a specialist. This way, the body already has enough antibodies in the blood to trigger the reaction, and the probability of some error or contamination of the blood sample is minimal.
Given these conditions, the accuracy or sensitivity of the COVID-19 antibody test is 94%. Remember that this is not lab testing. But even though, given that the PCR —“gold standard” of testing has the accuracy of 97.2% only, the results are pretty trustworthy.
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