Did you hear that you need to beware of antibody testing due to scammers?

I know the antibody tests are considered inaccurate, but I didn’t know people are using them to get personal information. I took the Quest test.

I tried your link, and I couldn’t find the list of approved FDA tests. I have tried to find that before, if you see it can you link that page, or tell me how you got to it from your link?

Thanks the style of Federal “leadership” (i.e. none) there are hundreds of companies scrambling to cash in on a sudden big market for anti-body tests. This is worshiping at the altar of “private enterprise” and “innovation”.
Of course, that means there are several legitimate companies with several legitimate approaches to the test, but it also means there are lesser teams making lesser products (well-intentioned but flawed) and downright bogus products.
As with most of our health care “system” (there is no such thing in the U.S. as a health care system, it’s just thousands of points of profit) we the consumers have to evalutate the options ourselves and chose => “Freedoms!!!”.

Those things all seem like common sense to me. But then, if common sense really was common people wouldn’t fall for scams to begin with.

@JLeslie I didn’t see your list either. I did see where you can request under the Freedom of Information Act. It’s an online request but I don’t know if your list is covered by the FOIA. There’s also a phone number listed that you could call to ask how to get your list. Couldn’t hurt to ask. At worst you’d get nothing which is what you have now

@Darth_Algar I agree. That’s why I’m asking here. My common sense has the hairs on the back of my neck standing straight up and I’m looking for better or more complete info

How useful is getting an antibody test anyway? It can tell you if you had it but the latest data I’ve read says they think it may only give you immunity for a few months. (Sorry I don’t have a link but it was probably The New York Times.)

Misleading title. Having to be wary of scammers isn’t the same as having to be wary of the testing itself.

@all Here is the Latest FDA warning about COVID antibody tests.. Also there are bogus test companies asking for SS number, date of birth, Credit Card numbers. . . All to steal your identity !

@Tropical_Willie

Yes. That warning is about fraud, not about COVID antibody tests inherently.

Both @Darth_Algar ! Some of the test are bogus.

It doesn’t seem to me that antibody testing is particularly useful. Here’s the CDC guidelines on it. I could be wrong but that’s my reading.

I guess mass antibody testing results could indicate the presence of past cases in an area’s population.

@janbb I was wondering more about the antibody scam, but I’m also interested in the kinks in the testing as well. I’ve read some of the same things that you’ve read. Since we seem to be on our own about how to deal with this pandemic, I don’t think that we can learn enough about this virus. Thanks for the info

@Irukandji They are scamming us from all sides, As @Tropical_Willie pointed out, they’re trying to scam us out of our personal info and they are also scamming us with fake tests. @janbb offered some good info as well. I can’t understand why you don’t want to learn as much as possible about what is going on with this

@SEKA I agree with you that we are on our own. I’m not obsessive but I try to follow the credible scientists so I can decide what makes sense for me to do.

So long as antibodies are present, you are not going to recatch the virus, but they seem to be short-lived with at least some people. Knowing could be beneficial in avoiding public after antibodies wear down, or in donating plasma for treatment of others.
Some tests are more dependable than others, so it is worthwhile to do some homework before taking one.
Since being tested is non evasive, there might be some payment involved for people willing to be guinea pigs.

I have heard of two tier testing with two different methods for better accuracy.

According to Dr Fauci, he’s hoping that the upcoming vaccines will be 70–75% effective but he has his doubts that they will be. He says that they might not bring the herd immunity that we all anticipate. He didn’t mention the antibody tests

The market is just flooded with junk tests, and the FDA does not care, authorising them without testing them

@ragingloli Interesting article. Scary as well. Thank you for sharing

@SEKA “You need to beware of antibody testing” means “antibody tests are dangerous.” Neither you nor @Tropical_Willie has given any evidence that the tests are dangerous. You’ve pointed out the existence of scammers and the existence of tests that aren’t actually antibody tests, and of course we should always be wary of scammers and fakes. But that’s not the same as being wary of genuine antibody tests.

Here is a pretty good interview about antibodies, and testing.

@Patty_Melt Good article