Good idea. I am interested in knowing also. You could even go back to work if you have antibodies now.

We ordered a qualitative poc ab test that is due in Friday that is supposed to have a relatively high sensitivity and specificity that has been approved under the EUA. Problem is I can't legally use the test as we are not a high complexity lab, just moderate.

AstroAg17 said:

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If it's POC why do you need a high complexity lab? Those seem almost contradictory to me.

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Because it is approved under an EUA. So the clia consultants tell us. Ridiculous

SoulSlaveAG2005 said:

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ONce you get the antibody test. You will still need to jump through a couple more hurdles. If you do find a center, please post it here. We are needing donors to start qualifying to really kick the program off.

1. Have a doc sign a letter of attestation that you were sick/clinically diagnosed or something similar
2. Wait either 14 days from cessation of symptoms and get a test to show negative for CV19 or
3. Wait 28 days from cessation of symptoms
4. Contact your local blood center to schedule an appointment for a convalescent plasma draw. You can't just walk on off the street. We hve to be able to admit you as a donor into the FDA program and special mark/process the donation.

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How many docs are really going to make that attestation? That will be interesting to see. I think I've possibly had it already, but based on the circumstances I don't think I'll be able to convince a doc to write for the antibody test, much less sign an attestation if they had no previous knowledge or record of my illness.

I should have said have "your" doc sign an attestation.

Technically to be eligible you must have either a positive lab test or have had a clinical diagnosis while
Sick and then an antibody test to affirm the clinical diagnosis.

Just suspicion and an antibody test won't cut it, for right now. The rules are pretty strict.

SoulSlaveAG2005 said:

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I should have said have "your" doc sign an attestation.

Technically to be eligible you must have either a positive lab test or have had a clinical diagnosis while
Sick and then an antibody test to affirm the clinical diagnosis.

Just suspicion and an antibody test won't cut it, for right now. The rules are pretty strict.

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Yeah, I'm not going to be able to get it then. I did a telemedicine appt with my NP, and he basically told me I would never get a test because I was already past the worst of it, and getting better. So, unlikely I get a clinical diagnosis, either.

GE said:

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BusterAg said:

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I didn't have a positive test back when I was sick, but pretty sure I got it.

Where can I go to get an antibody test so that I can donate plasma?

Edit to say that I am in Houston, but would go to Austin if needed.

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There is a drive thru testing place up in the Woodlands that was apparently advertising they would have the antibody test available soon, and I think it was supposed to be today. Let me check with my wife who told me about it.

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Thanks. I want an antibody test regardless. If this was just some weird bug and not COVID, I need to know that.

Thanks for the response BusterAg! Just one more quick question....did you ever lose your sense of taste? I did for about 24 hours (day 3).

If you go watch Tucker Carlson right now and rewind to the CEO of Vivera, he says he is sitting on a large quantity of his company's CV antibody testing machines and he is really frustrated with the FDA and "red tape" that is preventing their use. In fact their machines are in use right now in other countries.

BusterAg said:

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GE said:

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BusterAg said:

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I didn't have a positive test back when I was sick, but pretty sure I got it.

Where can I go to get an antibody test so that I can donate plasma?

Edit to say that I am in Houston, but would go to Austin if needed.

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There is a drive thru testing place up in the Woodlands that was apparently advertising they would have the antibody test available soon, and I think it was supposed to be today. Let me check with my wife who told me about it.

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Thanks. I want an antibody test regardless. If this was just some weird bug and not COVID, I need to know that.

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I would really like to get the antibody test, but don't think I could get a dr to sign off.

I was in NYC from Thursday, March 5 through Sunday March 8. About 4 days after I got back I had some discomfort in what felt like my lungs for about 3 days followed by lower back pain and then two nights in a row I woke up multiple times sweating. I never had fever during the day so who knows.

BusterAg said:

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GE said:

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BusterAg said:

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I didn't have a positive test back when I was sick, but pretty sure I got it.

Where can I go to get an antibody test so that I can donate plasma?

Edit to say that I am in Houston, but would go to Austin if needed.

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There is a drive thru testing place up in the Woodlands that was apparently advertising they would have the antibody test available soon, and I think it was supposed to be today. Let me check with my wife who told me about it.

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Thanks. I want an antibody test regardless. If this was just some weird bug and not COVID, I need to know that.

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https://www.woodlandsonline.com/npps/story.cfm?nppage=66182

Looks like this is just the regular test. Could have sworn they said somewhere they would be doing antibody tests at some point as well.

BusterAg said:

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I didn't have a positive test back when I was sick, but pretty sure I got it.

Where can I go to get an antibody test so that I can donate plasma?

Edit to say that I am in Houston, but would go to Austin if needed.

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Remember, the testing that has been done has been on people who were strongly suspected of having the virus, but only about 10% of the tests return a positive.

Schu in Mizzou said:

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Thanks for the response BusterAg! Just one more quick question....did you ever lose your sense of taste? I did for about 24 hours (day 3).

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I did not, but my wife was sick at the same time.

She lost her sense of taste for around 2 weeks.

I think there is a decent chance I had it in February. I've only gotten the flu once in my entire life (about 15 years ago). But, I came down with what I assumed was the flu after flying to Phoenix in late February. Took me about 10 days to get over it. Symptoms were pretty mild (general crappy feeling and extremely tired) until about day 7 when I woke up with a serious burning feeling in my chest. I called a teledoc, she prescribed me a zpac, and I was completely fine about 72 hours later, and felt much better within 24 hours of taking the zpac. So, was it the flu or COVID? I guess I'll never know unless I get an antibody test, and even then, the tests aren't accurate.

EMY92 said:

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BusterAg said:

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I didn't have a positive test back when I was sick, but pretty sure I got it.

Where can I go to get an antibody test so that I can donate plasma?

Edit to say that I am in Houston, but would go to Austin if needed.

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Remember, the testing that has been done has been on people who were strongly suspected of having the virus, but only about 10% of the tests return a positive.

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That's amazing.

Are we just a bunch of hypochondriacs?

What are the other explanations? Just seasonal flu? I would think people would find that out too, as flu tests are easy.

Is the antibody test potentially off?

Is there another COVID-like virus floating around out there?

Schu in Mizzou said:

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If you go watch Tucker Carlson right now and rewind to the CEO of Vivera, he says he is sitting on a large quantity of his company's CV antibody testing machines and he is really frustrated with the FDA and "red tape" that is preventing their use. In fact their machines are in use right now in other countries.

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Eh. We don't want inaccurate test floating around and they are doing their due diligence to ensure the tests once available are highly accurate. The White House task force specifically warned not to buy test online or trust ones that other countries are using as they are not accurate enough. Last thing we need are a bunch of people thinking they can't get it going out and getting infected.

This link has been passed around my mom group with tons of people scrambling to sign up. I'd be interested to know if those of you who are more knowledgeable than I think this is likely to be a legitimate and reliable test?

https://arcpointlabssouthwestfortworth.as.me/schedule.php?appointmentType=13682025

willjohnathan said:

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Schu in Mizzou said:

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If you go watch Tucker Carlson right now and rewind to the CEO of Vivera, he says he is sitting on a large quantity of his company's CV antibody testing machines and he is really frustrated with the FDA and "red tape" that is preventing their use. In fact their machines are in use right now in other countries.

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Eh. We don't want inaccurate test floating around and they are doing their due diligence to ensure the tests once available are highly accurate. The White House task force specifically warned not to buy test online or trust ones that other countries are using as they are not accurate enough. Last thing we need are a bunch of people thinking they can't get it going out and getting infected.

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I absolutely buy that logic. However,why would an American company with a testing system made in America, run by American doctors, put a shoddy product out there opening themselves up to hurting their own communities and getting their pants sued off?

I say if you're the government, take their testing data as a probationary approval and start using it letting the public end users know that the system has not yet gone through the miles of onerous hoop jumps yet. You've got 18,000+ recovered positives to test on.

Its frustrating because the current regular virus positivity test the government is using is only 67% reliable yielding false negatives 33% of the time.

Anyway, I believe there is a smarter way to get all this done than moving through the same slow approval process. But I can't prove that. All we can do is be mad at the only group of people with any power to get things done while having know real idea of what is actually happening.

BusterAg said:

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I didn't have a positive test back when I was sick, but pretty sure I got it.

Where can I go to get an antibody test so that I can donate plasma?

Edit to say that I am in Houston, but would go to Austin if needed.

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You might want to call the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center. I imagine if there is an active search for positive plasma donors they are working on the logistics.

We just finished another update ( it seems to change daily now) in regards to FDA guidlines for donor eligibility.

In the DFW/Central/East Texas area -- here are the guidelines and how you can enrol.

Quote:

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Please review the Revised Recommendations for Investigational COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma (April 8, 2020) https://bit.ly/FDACOVID for details:

Points to highlight:

Criteria for eligibility as convalescent plasma donor:
1. Evidence of COVID-19 documented by a laboratory test which must be:
A diagnostic test (e.g., nasopharyngeal swab) at the time of illness
OR
A positive serological test for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies after recovery, if prior diagnostic testing was not performed at the time COVID-19 was suspected.
2. Additionally
There must be complete resolution of symptoms during 28 days prior to donation
OR
Complete resolution of symptoms during 14 days prior to donation along with negative results for COVID-19, either from one or more nasopharyngeal swab specimens or by a molecular diagnostic test from blood.
Donors must be male, never pregnant females, or females who have been tested since their most recent pregnancy and results interpreted as negative for HLA antibodies.
There must be evidence of SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody titers (e.g., greater than 1:80). (If neutralizing antibody titers cannot be obtained in advance, consider storing a retention sample from the convalescent plasma donation for determining antibody titers at a later date).

Carter BloodCare is recruiting recovered COVID-19 patients who are interested in donating their plasma.

Hospitals play a significant role by identifying and referring potential COVID-19 recovered donors. Inquiries and interest in donating convalescent plasma should be directed to https://www.carterbloodcare.org/plasma-donations-for-treating-covid-19/.

These donors will not need a negative COVID-19 test prior to donating plasma, per FDA rules. The donor collection is occurring on a mobile donor coach at a location separate from normal blood donor collection. The plasma collected ranges from 650 to 825 mls depending on donor weight, gender, and hemoglobin. The final product is aliquotted into 3 or 4 individual units for ease of thawing and administration.

Many of you have also inquired about the Mayo Clinic National Program. This is another route (expanded access) for hospitals to gain use of convalescent plasma using the IRB of the Mayo Clinic. Physicians, facilities and individual patients must still be registered prior to use. Additional information and details can be reviewed at https://www.uscovidplasma.org.

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For Houston area-- here is contact information for Gulf Coast:

Quote:

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Are you wondering what it takes to donate Convalescent Plasma for COVID-19 patients? Here are the Donor Qualifications:

Must have had a positive COVID-19 diagnosis documented by a laboratory test.
Must have fully recovered from COVID-19, with no symptoms for at least 28 days before the donation. Or recovered with no symptoms for 14 days and a second test with negative results.
Must meet all existing donor eligibility requirements.

Call us at 713-791-6373 Monday through Friday, from 8 am to 4 pm to get on the waitlist. If you are waiting for 28 days to pass, we can go ahead and add you now while you wait. Visit http://ow.ly/PuJz50z8TXf for more info!

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Agoodlittleag04 said:

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This link has been passed around my mom group with tons of people scrambling to sign up. I'd be interested to know if those of you who are more knowledgeable than I think this is likely to be a legitimate and reliable test?

https://arcpointlabssouthwestfortworth.as.me/schedule.php?appointmentType=13682025

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They haven't called me back

Any update on antibody testing in Houston?

Ttt