MILWAUKEE, Wis. (SPECTRUM NEWS) - As we all learned more about the coronavirus and the symptoms of COVID-19 over the past few weeks, I'm sure most people questioned coughs and colds from earlier this winter just as my friends and I did:

"I was so sick in January-- I think it was probably the coronavirus," or "I had a weird, dry cough for a week-- it might have been COVID-19," or "I was wiped out in early February-- I'll bet it was the 'rona."

For me personally, I remember waking up in the middle of the night in late-January and experiencing chills like I never had before in my life, and then by the next morning I felt fine.

Was that a symptom? The CDC has just updated its possible COVID-19 symptom list to include "chills" and "repeated shaking with chills."

Were there no symptoms at all along the way?! Various studies, including one at the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, estimate that roughly 50% of people who contract the virus may be asymptomatic.

The actual COVID-19 tests to determine if someone had the virus, until recently, were in limited supply and restricted to those with symptoms and a doctor's recommendation to be tested.

However, coronavirus antibody tests can show whether or not someone contracted COVID-19 previously and has since built up the antibodies to the virus. That could mean someone now is immune to contracting it again or passing it on to someone else (in my case, that could mean that I could interact with my parents and help them out without fear of spreading the virus).

"[Antibody] tests for the SARS-CoV-2 virus have the potential to inform good public health decision making during the pandemic," wrote Dr. Gigi Gronvall along with fellow researchers at the Center for Health Security at The Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. "Because of the potential for relaxing physical distancing measures for those who have recovered, several governments and large employers are currently exploring the possible use of what has been termed “immunity certificates,” to release recovered people from physical distancing measures."

Finding one of these antibody tests, though, isn't easy.

As we reported Sunday, I'd reached out to my doctor in Wisconsin, whose office kindly replied over email that, "[We] have no idea at this time if or when we'll get any testing kits," and "[It's] best that you contact the CDC at (800) 232-4636."

Plan B came about after reading a piece in The Washington Post about what seems like the wild west of antibody testing right now: "The Food and Drug Administration, criticized for slowness in authorizing tests to detect coronavirus infections, has taken a strikingly different approach to antibody tests, allowing more than 90 on the market without prior review, including some marketed fraudulently and of dubious quality, according to testing experts and the agency itself."

The piece mentioned a company called ARCpoint Labs which was offering several antibody tests. Their lab in Brookfield, Wisconsin, didn't have any availability, but a lab in Orland Park, Illinois, was offering a $175 test.

I bit the bullet and made the drive last Thursday after interviewing John Constantine, the President and CEO of ARCpoint Labs, about their testing procedures.

"We like to say that our test results are going to give you confidence, but you can't be absolutely sure in those results," Constantine said. "This is continuning to evolve and as the science gets better, we're going to be able to provide things like quantitative values which are going to be able to tell you exactly what this means, but right now it's directionally correct information."

After taking the test last Thursday morning, I received the results over email on Tuesday:

Negative.

Amidst several disclaimers on the results themselves, this one stood out: "Negative results do not rule out SARS-CoV-2 infection, particularly in those who have been in contact with the virus. Follow-up testing with a molecular diagnostic should be considered to rule out infection in these individuals."

For now, though, I'll stand down on testing and continue to focus on consistent hand hygiene, social distancing, and cleaning surfaces like I was back in college and my parents were coming to visit.

Because at this point, barring the discovery of a vaccine or one of us getting over the coronavirus and having a reliable test to prove it, there won't be any actual visit anytime soon.

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Have you taken an antibody test? I'd love to hear about it-- email me at Jason.Fechner@Charter.com.