Thursday, June 4, 2020

FREE ANTIBODY TESTING ON JUNE 5TH FOR ALL RESIDENTS IN KENSINGTON


Free COVID-19 Antibody Testing
Friday, June 5th, noon to 5:00 p.m.

Free COVID-19 antibody testing will be available in Kensington for all residents on Friday, June 5th, from noon to 5:00 p.m., at Kensington Plaza. You don't need an appointment. People will be tested on a first-come, first-served basis. 

Bring identification with you. If you have insurance, bring it with you. You will get services regardless of your status and your insurance.

Thank you to Mamnunul Haq, one of the organizers of the event, for providing the information for this blog post.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say this about antibody testing:

"Antibody tests check your blood by looking for antibodies, which can show if you had a past infection with the virus that causes COVID-19. 

Depending on when someone was infected and the timing of the test, the test may not find antibodies in someone with a current COVID-19 infection.

Antibody tests should not be used to diagnose COVID-19. To see if you are currently infected, you need a viral test. Viral tests identify the virus in samples from your respiratory system, such as swabs from the inside of your nose.

If you test positive or negative for COVID-19 on a viral or an antibody test, you still should take preventive measures to protect yourself and others. We do not know yet if people who recover from COVID-19 can get infected again. Scientists are working to understand this.

A positive test result shows you may have antibodies from an infection with the virus that causes COVID-19, or possibly from infection with a related virus from the same family of viruses (called coronavirus), such as one that causes the common cold.
We do not know yet if having antibodies to the virus that causes COVID-19 can protect someone from getting infected again or, if they do, how long this protection might last.
If you test negative, you may not have had COVID-19 before. Talk with your healthcare provider about your test result and the type of test you took to understand what your result means. You could still have a current infection."

For more information, go to the CDC page at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/testing/serology-overview.html.

Location
Kensington Plaza
at the intersection of Beverley Road, Church Avenue, and McDonald Avenue
Kensington, Brooklyn