ST. LOUIS — Cough, fever, chest pain.
While most people can recite those symptoms of COVID-19, a St. Louis radio host said he is a little too familiar with these symptoms.
“I was like, there is no way we didn’t have this already,” explained Remy of New Country 92.3.
Remy developed these symptoms in January, and believed he had contracted COVID-19 before much information was available about the virus.
After learning insurance would cover an antibody test at Total Access Urgent Care, Remy took the blood test. The whole process took 15 minutes.
"It was a really quick thing," he said. "And I felt completely safe going in."
A couple days later, Remy received his results by text message. He was surprised to learn he tested negative for antibodies.
“I think we’re all on hyper alert and our brains are thinking about a time we had a cough that was a typical virus that we get every year, but maybe we are just attributing it to something else this time,” he said.
Many people in the bi-state share a similar story. A doctor at Downtown Urgent Care said hundreds of people have taken the antibody test at their location over the past week. Approximately 2.5% of people tested at that location yield a positive result. That number is slightly higher across the bi-state.
Ideally, the percentage of positive antibody tests would be closer to 40% to 50%.
Doctors say healthcare workers and people willing to donate their plasma should get tested. However, people who have never shown symptoms and take a test out of sheer curiosity are better off saving their time and money.
Tests can cost hundreds of dollars if not covered by insurance. Doctors recommend shopping around if you want to get the test but do not have insurance, because some facilities offer the same test for different prices.
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