Fast Pace issues over 2,000 COVID-19 antibody tests

JACKSON, Tenn. — For almost two weeks, Fast Pace Health Urgent Care has been offering COVID-19 antibody tests here in West Tennessee.

“Down the road, as we continue to study COVID-19, that will let us know if you have any immunity or not,” said Barry Taylor, director of clinical operations at Fast Pace.

There are three different antibody tests they offer, two of which can tell if you currently have COVID-19.

“We’ll also do an IGM test, which is really important, because that will let us know if you’ve actually been in contact with or had an illness that was a COVID-19 illness,” Taylor said.

Taylor says if you come in to get a test, they’ll first screen and triage you, do a short physical, then the test is just a simple as getting your blood drawn.

“Just a very small amount of blood that is drawn and then sent off to the lab. It’s usually takes 1-3 days, as a general rule, for that test to come back,” Taylor said.

Fast Pace has given more than 2,000 of these antibody tests since starting to offer them on April 29. And it’s not just for people who have had the virus.

“I would suggest everybody get the test,” Taylor said. “The more people that will come in and get tested, the better the data will be going forward.”

Taylor says the results they get from the tests will help with data as we go into cold and flu season this fall to see if people get sick again or not.

Taylor also stressed they still don’t know to what extent someone who had the virus develops immunity, if at all.