Antibody testing is the next step in tackling the coronavirus crisis

In recent weeks the first tentative steps have been taken toward, what was prior to lockdown, normality.

For some, however, normal now has a different definition with remote working the chosen way forward for a number of employers and employees.

As with most things though, one size does not fit all and many businesses are desperate to get employees back into a physical workplace, either due to convenience or necessity.

In these unprecedented circumstances, these employers must ensure their staff return to a safe environment, and that it remains safe as those employees transition to and from it on a daily basis.

Antigen testing is now available on the NHS for free to everyone, but this can only tell us so much. This will only inform us as to whether someone has COVID-19 at the moment the test is administered. Furthermore, the NHS testing is not designed for the kind of mass testing with immediate results many businesses will look for.

This is why antibody testing has come to the fore. Antibody testing will show us whether someone is likely to currently have the disease, has had it in the past or has never contracted it at all.

Public Health England has asked for no antibody tests to be sold at present while they complete validation tests but, here at BHSF, we are in no doubt that antibody testing will be the next step in tackling the coronavirus crisis and getting the UK’s businesses fully functioning again.

Our inside sources lead us to believe that a UK-approved antibody test could be available as early as the end of August, so we decided to not stand on ceremony and to be ready for this inevitable next stage in battling this pandemic.

We acquired a COVID-19 antibody test which has been the subject of an independent laboratory verification process and showed a 99.4% accuracy.

One hundred volunteers from our own staff took the simple finger prick test and the results, which were available in minutes, were intriguing. 5% tested positive for antibodies, results which were a surprise to all of them as none recalled exhibiting any symptoms at any time.

This goes to underline the importance of this test, someone with COVID-19 may well not know they have it or have had it in the past.

Knowing someone has had the disease in the past is vital data. The best way for businesses returning to the workplace to keep employees safe is by building individual risk profiles.

So much is still not known about COVID-19 so it is impossible to state that if you’ve previously had the disease you have any level of immunity to it, but logic and science dictate that if you have had a disease you are statistically less likely to contract it again.

Therefore you would place those employees whose antibody test shows they’ve already had the disease at the low end of the risk profile.

At the other end are those who show no COVID-19 antibodies. These employees are the most at risk of contracting the disease and having this data allows you to protect them accordingly (whether that means having them continue to work from home or taking extra precautions when they do return to the office).

Having the test to administer to staff is, however, only one part of this process. Another reason we were determined to progress with antibody testing was so we could test our protocols and procedures.

Our risk assessment for the staff testing was thorough, the feedback was outstanding and I am delighted to say our process was so safe and well received we won’t be looking to change anything about it when we go external with the test.

We await validation from Public Health England but once that is granted we look forward to rolling this out to our clients.

The author is Brian Hall, chief commercial officer at BHSF.