HIALEAH, FL — A group of 146 South Florida firefighters were tested for antibodies to the new coronavirus Thursday in what could become common practice for first responders, health care workers and corporate America as the country reopens at some point from the extended lockdown.
“For first responders it will detect the antibodies in your blood. The one thing it won’t do is let you know if you are positive,” Hialeah Firefighters Local 1102 President Eric Johnson told Patch. “This is all about early detection.”
The U.S. Federal Drug Administration said serological tests like the ones administered to the Hialeah firefighters just outside Miami will determine which people have antibodies for the new coronavirus and “may potentially be used” along with other clinical data to decide whether Americans can return to work or donate their convalescent plasma to treat others afflicted from the illness.
“It not only keeps us safe. It keeps the community safe and keeps our families safe,” Johnson observed.
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Prior to being tested for antibodies, the Hialeah firefighters were only tested for the new coronavirus if they showed signs of the illness.
“At the point in time, when you have signs and symptoms showing, that means you’ve already been infected,” Johnson explained. “That means you’ve already gone home to your family. That means the calls you’re running on every patient, you potentially are infecting them and this is what we want to avoid.”
The uncertainty of not knowing if they’ve been exposed to the virus weighs heavily on first responders these days, according to Johnson.
“I’ve worked for over a month to get this thing implemented,” Johnson confided. “On the first day of testing, just as a whim, I said ‘alright let’s go ahead and test me.”
Johnson was the first person to be tested through a partnership with the University of Miami. Each of the tests cost about $17 plus tax. The results were surprising.
“I came back as a positive result, showing that I might have the antibodies, or that I have been exposed already,” Johnson said.
He was not alone either. Six other firefighters also were determined to have antibodies in their blood based on a simple thumb prick.
Everyone who tested positive was to be retested with a nasal swab and the specimens sent to a lab for analysis to determine if they still had the virus.
Union members paid for the tests otherwise it would cost about $5,000 to cover every person in the 225-member agency.
“Sometimes it’s about cutting through the red tape. That’s what we did by doing this,” Johnson explained. “Hopefully, we can do this on a recurring basis with the assistance of the city where they contribute financially also.”
The results take only minutes for the serological tests compared to days for other types of COVID-19 tests.
“In the end, instead of just taking random people out of work because they’ve had a potential exposure, within 15 minutes we will know if they have those antibodies,” Johnson asserted. “Knowing that is half the battle. We can limit the personnel that we have to take out of service.”
Testing for antibodies has already proven valuable to Johnson and the others who were deemed to have antibodies from the new coronavirus in their blood.
“It was very shocking,” Johnson said of the results. “I don’t feel the fear for myself. My fear at that point in time became for my wife and my children. That’s it. That’s all I think about.”
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