Blood tests promise to show who had COVID-19 and didn’t know it

SEATTLE — With people ordered to stay home to slow the spread of coronavirus, streets are empty.

But is there a way to figure out who might return, if they're immune to COVID-19?

Dr. Keith Jerome, the head of the virology division at University of Washington Medicine, said ablood test has big possibilities.

"We're not looking for the virus itself, we're looking for the body's response to the virus and that lasts for weeks or months after they've been infected," Jerome said. "So we may be able to start identifying people who maybe wondered if they had the infection or find out they had it and hardly even knew."

Blood tests for coronavirus antibodies are beginning around the country and could potentiallyidentify people who are protected from the virus because they’ve already had it.

"If so, those people could be the ones who help rebuild our economy and rebuild our active society," Jerome said.

Dr. Larry Corey, president and director emeritus at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center said researchers are encouraged by data from Asia, where the pandemic began.

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