The Promise and Peril of Coronavirus Antibody Testing In Illinois

When we went to air Tuesday morning, 45,883 people had tested positive for COVID-19 in Illinois. But the key word there is tested — it’s estimated that there are many more people who may carry the virus, or who were infected in the past, but are not included in that official count. 

That’s why some states are testing residents for antibodies, to see if they had been exposed at some point, even if they never got sick. Researchers hope this will provide a better glimpse into how widespread COVID-19 is, and when it began to circulate in communities across the U.S.

New York has moved aggressively to do antibody testing, but Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has taken a more cautious approach. Pritzker said at his Friday news conference that antibody testing could give people a false sense of hope, because the technology isn’t accurate enough yet.

We talk to a virologist about antibody testing, and hear from an Illinois coroner who believes COVID-19 was infecting and killing people in his community long before the disease had been classified as a global pendemic.

Guests:

Brian Gustafson, Rock Island County coroner

Christopher Byron Brooke, virologist and assistant professor at the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign