LANSING, Mich. — COVID-19 antibody tests have just hit some hospitals, but they could already be making their way into personal homes.
Antibody tests are still a mystery to some because of their uncertain results, but doctors are still urging for the tests to be conducted and at-home test may make that easier, if they're really a thing.
"Today antibody test have yet to be approved by the FDA," James Richard, a medical director at Sparrow Hospital, said.
Richard says there may be a lot of talk about at-home antibody tests, but the reality of seeing those anytime soon aren't very likely. He says some hospitals don't even have the testing yet.
"At this time the FDA is focused on major laboratory testing for large volumes and those are the ones that they're spending their time on right now," Richard said.
Although tests haven't been FDA approved yet, people can still expect to see advertisements for at-home tests.
"People are going to be trying to push their product as much as they can but the accuracy has yet to be determined when they have been tested by other institutions they've been found to be less accurate than the ones we're using in the main clinical, large hospitals," he said.
Richard says we'll have fewer false results if we let professionals handle COVID-19 testing as we do with other diseases. He thinks the at-home tests aren't necessary.
"We've had the flu, influenza, for a number of years, but I'm not aware that we have testing for that," he said.
Doctor Richard says there's still no definite date to say when antibody tests will be at all hospitals, let alone at-home tests.
He says some at-home tests have been sent over to the FDA for approval, but to his knowledge, none have been approved yet.
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