They appear to be using an antibody test from Premier Biotech. However, I can't gain clarity on whether we know if these tests are even accurate or reliable.
"But some COVID-19 antibody tests, including those being used by public health departments in Denver and Los Angeles and provided to urgent care centers in Maryland and North Carolina, were supplied by Chinese manufacturers that are not approved by China's Center for Medical Device Evaluation, a unit of the National Medical Product Administration, or NMPA, the country's equivalent of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, NBC News has found.
Two U.S. companies — Premier Biotech of Minneapolis and Aytu Bioscience of Colorado — have been distributing the tests from unapproved Chinese manufacturers, according to health officials, FDA filings and a spokesman for one of the Chinese manufacturers. Many of the unapproved tests appear to have been shipped to the U.S. after the FDA relaxed its guidelines for tests in mid-March and before the Chinese government banned their export just over two weeks later.
If COVID-19 antibody tests are unreliable, they can produce false results, either negative or positive, health officials said. The use of such tests has been widely discussed as a way to ensure that employees are healthy enough to go back to work and to find COVID-19 survivors who may be able to provide blood plasma to severely ill patients.
Officials at the Association of Public Health Laboratories have expressed concern about the reliability of the numerous antibody tests being sold or used across the country with little scrutiny. "
"But some COVID-19 antibody tests, including those being used by public health departments in Denver and Los Angeles and provided to urgent care centers in Maryland and North Carolina, were supplied by Chinese manufacturers that are not approved by China's Center for Medical Device Evaluation, a unit of the National Medical Product Administration, or NMPA, the country's equivalent of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, NBC News has found.
Two U.S. companies — Premier Biotech of Minneapolis and Aytu Bioscience of Colorado — have been distributing the tests from unapproved Chinese manufacturers, according to health officials, FDA filings and a spokesman for one of the Chinese manufacturers. Many of the unapproved tests appear to have been shipped to the U.S. after the FDA relaxed its guidelines for tests in mid-March and before the Chinese government banned their export just over two weeks later.
If COVID-19 antibody tests are unreliable, they can produce false results, either negative or positive, health officials said. The use of such tests has been widely discussed as a way to ensure that employees are healthy enough to go back to work and to find COVID-19 survivors who may be able to provide blood plasma to severely ill patients.
Officials at the Association of Public Health Laboratories have expressed concern about the reliability of the numerous antibody tests being sold or used across the country with little scrutiny. "
see: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/unapproved-chines...