Mayo Clinic & the University of Minnesota offer antibody testing

In a bid to curb the spread of coronavirus, several medical institutes and researchers are conducting striding initiatives like community-wide testing and drug development. Recently, the University of Minnesota and Mayo Clinic made a similar move when it began offering clinical antibody testing to verify if patients have successfully recovered from COVID-19.

Reportedly, the university started to give out its testing at M Health Fairview's Bethesda Hospital. Apparently, the hospital was transformed into a 90-bed treatment facility for COVID-19 last month, a necessary move implemented to combat the issue of hospital scarcity.

Meanwhile, Mayo had begun its antibody testing a week before. The primary goal of both these institutions is to examine the infection status among essential workers.

According to state health authorities, antibody testing could play a vital role in examining those people who have already been affected by COVID-19, but possess a strong immunity to combat it. While Tim Walz, Governor of Minnesota, believes that the antibody testing would not only help determine the infection status of workers but also aid in getting Minnesota workplaces back up again.

In other news, e-commerce giant Amazon.com has been conducting a similar initiative with its employees. Reportedly, the company has been in talks with the chief executives of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. and Abbott Laboratories, firms that are currently developing coronavirus tests.

Amazon intends to set up a testing booth for its staff in order to lower the risk of coronavirus at its warehouses. The two companies have expressed interest in Amazon’s initiative but are currently struggling to fulfill this request as most of its testing facility is being utilized by the U.S. government.

Evidently, the e-commerce firm is exploring the idea of commencing such tests in one of its warehouses near Seattle headquarters. However, the status of this initiative is still unclear and the details about the proportion of assistance provided by these test makers remain uncertain.

Source Credit: https://kttc.com/2020/04/13/university-of-minnesota-mayo-offering-virus-antibody-tests/