One of the largest clinical laboratories in the United States is helping people forgo a trip to the doctor’s office by selling an antibody test for the coronavirus online.
Quest Diagnostics announced Tuesday that a test for whether someone previously had the coronavirus and developed antibodies to fight it can now be purchased on its website for $119.
“Beginning today, individuals can purchase COVID-19 antibody testing for themselves online, without visiting a doctor’s office, through QuestDirect, the consumer-initiated testing business of Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX), the world’s leading provider of diagnostic information services,” the company said.
Those who order the test will then give a blood sample to one of the 2,200 Quest testing centers in the country.
“With the introduction of this test and service, Quest is making it easy for people to access quality testing for antibodies to the virus which causes COVID-19, with access to physician interpretation and steering into needed care,” said Dr. Jay Wohlgemuth, senior vice president and chief medical officer for Quest Diagnostics.
“While the science on COVID-19 is evolving, testing for antibodies may identify people who have likely been exposed to COVID-19 and might have mounted an immune response to the virus,” he added. “Our goal is to empower individuals and their physicians to make informed decisions about their risk of infection and of spreading the virus.”
The announcement comes as governors and local leaders are building plans to reopen state economies and have said testing for the coronavirus is crucial before people can get back to work.
New York, the American coronavirus epicenter, announced an “aggressive” plan to conduct antibody tests on residents.
“Any plan to start to reopen the economy has to be based on data and testing, and we have to make sure our antibody and diagnostic testing is up to the scale we need so we can safely get people back to work,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said last week, adding that the testing would be done “in the most aggressive way in the nation.”
Quest also announced last week that its testing capacity for the coronavirus was outpacing demand.
“We are now able to perform up to 50,000 diagnostic COVID-19 tests per day or approximately 350,000 tests per week. Our test capacity outpaces demand and we have not experienced a test backlog for about a week,” the company said in a statement.
