COVID-19 Antibody Tests
Antibody lab tests are simple blood tests that determine if you’ve already been exposed to COVID-19… even if you never noticed symptoms.
Cost: $120
Experiencing COVID-19 Symptoms?
Antibody tests are NOT diagnostic. If you are currently experiencing symptoms, please call our clinic at 435-709-8786 to set up a telehealth visit. For emergency symptoms (such as difficulty breathing), dial 9-1-1 immediately.
Why get an antibody test?
If COVID-19 antibodies are present in your blood, it means you were exposed to the virus at some point in the past.
Researchers aren't sure how long immunity to COVID-19 lasts, but a positive antibody test means that you likely have at least short-term protection against reinfection.
FAQs
What are antibodies?
Antibodies are Y-shaped proteins that help our bodies fight off infections. When a pathogen enters your body, antibodies attach themselves to the virus so it cannot infect cells. It also alerts other immune cells to help destroy the invader. After the infection, the antibodies remain in your body in order to protect you if the virus ever returns.
Are antibody tests used to diagnose COVID-19?
Unlike the nasal swabs, antibody tests are not diagnostic tests. At the start of an infection, the body may not be producing a high enough antibody count for the test to come back positive, so we can’t use that count as our only source of data. The presence of antibodies, however, does indicate that you were infected at some point in the past.
How does an antibody test work?
To test for COVID-19 antibodies, a provider at our clinic collects a sample of your blood. They send that sample to our lab partner, where technicians will test for the presence of antibodies. Lab results are sent back to you in 1-3 days.
If I test positive, does that mean I’m immune to COVID-19?
The short answer? It’s probable, but we don’t know what that immunity will look like. Not all antibodies behave the same. We have lifelong immunity against some viruses (e.g. chicken pox), and shorter immunities against others; that’s why we have to get vaccine “boosters” for pathogens like tetanus. Sometimes, viruses (like the flu) mutate, meaning we can get reinfected after a certain period of time. There simply isn’t enough data on COVID-19 right now to know how long antibodies will last or if they fully protect us from reinfection.
Are your antibody tests reliable?
We work with Quest Diagnostics, one of the nation’s leading clinical laboratories, to provide high-quality testing. You can learn more in their press release here.