One of Michigan’s largest health care systems is launching a testing study to answer many questions surrounding the spread of coronavirus COVID-19 and potentially help treat patients battling the virus.
By testing the blood of an estimated more than 30,000 medical professionals and patients for COVID-19 antibodies, Beaumont Health hopes to determine things like:
- How widespread infection truly is, including individuals without symptoms;
- Whether COVID-19 antibodies offer any protection post-infection and if so, how long;
- The relationship between antibody levels and symptoms or the severity of the disease;
- How susceptible are health care workers to acquiring COVID-19?
In the long term, health officials believe their testing could help determine how quickly a vaccine could be created, and help identify people with high antibody levels as potential donors for plasma transfusions to treat others infected with COVID-19.
“In addition to answering key questions on infection spread and the percentage of total asymptomatic cases in a community, we intend to relieve anxiety through a better understanding of the spread of the infection across Beaumont Health,” said Dr. Richard Kennedy, Beaumont Health’s vice president for research and director of the Beaumont Research Institute.
The health system says its serological testing study will be the largest in the country when it begins Tuesday, April 13, following three weeks of preparation. Testing will be conducted across all eight Beaumont campuses.
Serological blood testing detects antibodies the body creates to fight an infection. In the case of COVID-19, antibodies might develop as soon as three to six days after infection, according to Beaumont officials.
In many other infections, antibodies offer immunity against reinfection. Beaumont’s study will begin to answer whether COVID-19 antibodies offer any protection post-infection.
Dr. Matthew Sims, Beaumont’s director of infectious disease research, said he believes antibodies against COVID-19 will protect people from getting infected again. In Germany, he said there’s a plan to give people ‘immunity passports’ if they can show they have antibodies to help them get back to work.”
“This study will help prove that antibodies protect those who have them,” Sims said. “It is our hope that this study provides a template for others to conduct similar research that will collectively clarify many unknowns of COVID-19.”
The Beaumont Research Institute will focus the initial study solely on the Beaumont community of inpatients and the employees and affiliates of the health system. Participation in the