What is the purpose of antibody (or serology) tests and when do I use them?
Antibody test looks for antibodies that are made by the immune system in response to a threat. Antibodies can take several days or weeks to develop after you have an infection and may stay in your blood for several weeks after recovery. As a result, antibody tests should not be used to diagnose an active coronavirus infection. Use of antibody tests should currently be limited to population-level seroprevalance study, evaluation of recovered individuals for convalescent plasma donations. Antibody tests should not be offered to individuals as a method of determining immune status. Individuals receiving positive test results may falsely assume it is safe to discontinue physical distancing.