Test For Past Covid.?

[cleobella1]

Hi Is their a test that can tell if you have had Covid previously? and what is it called? Also where is the cheapest place to buy it please?

[Sqad]

https://www.gov.uk/get-coronavirus-test

[Sqad]

Sorry wrong link....ignore it.

[Sqad]

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/testing/antibody-testing-to-check-if-youve-had-coronavirus/

Try that.

[ToraToraTora]

yes it's the anti body test. if you've had it you will have Covid antibodies.

[Sqad]

Remember that antibodies will almost certainly have disappeared within 6-9 months, so a negative antibody test is still possible if you had suffered Covid over 9 months ago.

[pat2604]

The OP is asking if there is a test which will indicate whether you have had Covid, Sqad, not whether you have it currently. Perhaps an antibody test?

[Sqad]

Pat....I know and have corrected my link.

[pat2604]

Sorry, forget my post. I got interrupted!!

[Sqad]

LOL.

[bobbinwales]

Thanks for that info sqad. A friend is convinced his kids are not going to have the jab because its better to get covid when young and then have antibodies that will protect for life rather than limited protection from an 'unproven' and unsafe vaccine

[barry1010]

bob, maybe the days of the pox parties are coming back - they were also popular in the 1950s as some parents believed it was better for their children to get measles when they were young.
Hope most parents have more sense today

[rowanwitch]

Trouble is the immunity doesn't last, so you have antibodies today you may not have them in a year's time

[bednobs]

youll also have antibodies if youve had the vaccination wont you?

[pat2604]

Hopefully Bednobs! I was thinking the same.

[Peter Pedant]

So long as you understand the antibody test isnt the be-all and end-all - just as Sqad prescribes

raising the question - why have one and then - - what does it mean

The short observation is that even Trump who is loopy as a loopy-thing has had Covid AND the vaccine. ( therefore you should)

There is even a crazier set of people in England who have been vaccinated themselves ( so it is not that dangerous) but wont consent to the kids having it ( because it is too dangerous). which is so lu-lu that words fail me

[Peter Pedant]

a bit technical
there is no info / data on what level of antibody you need to be protected

( still stuck at high is good and low is bad)

[Khandro]

PP //there is no info / data on what level of antibody you need to be protected//

Yes there is, my Doc told me earlier this week that my blood test showed me to have - can't remember exactly but I think it was 200 & something- which he said gave me statistically 94 % protection

[Peter Pedant]

ref ?
er your doc
yeah any other ref?

[campbellking]

Squad, I am in the SIREN study which monitors levels of antibodies, and having been identified as having antibodies a year last July (never had a positive PCR test as was asymptomatic and the NHS was not regularly testing in the first outbreak), and I still have antibodies from that infection ( the blood tests discriminate between infection caused antibodies and vaccination induced antibodies). The research nurse at our site tells me that it is now that they are starting to see fewer people with antibodies.

[Sqad]

Thank you Campbell, quite interesting.
There is indeed another spot of research which would indicate that natural immunity lasts longer than vaccination......all very confusing which in medical parlance means....we don't really know.