Mass Coronavirus Antibody Tests Have Serious Limits
Antibody checks will provide a handy picture of the Covid-19 outbreak, but their usefulness will be limited in ending the lockdowns.
A testing time.
Photo: Bloomberg
As governments in Europe and elsewhere start to look at reopening their economies after the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, mass antibody testing has come to the fore as a potential way of making sure the outbreak doesn’t surge again.
These serological tests — which are being rolled out in Italy, Germany and the U.K., as well as New York — can help identify individuals who’ve developed an immune response to the new coronavirus, either as part of an active infection or a prior infection. While it’s an excellent idea to get a better picture of just how widespread the epidemic has been, we should be under no illusion that we will then be able to hand out some form of “immunity certificate” that lets people return to normal lives. Most individuals will probably discover that they haven’t been infected with the virus. Even those who were won’t be certain about how long their immunity will last.