SANDPOINT — Bonner General Health’s Laboratory Services department can now add serology testing for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies to its list of services

“We are excited to be able to provide this test to our community,” Cherie Proctor, Bonner General Health laboratory manager, said. “It’s extraordinarily sensitive and specific, and performed beautifully through our validation process. This type of testing can tell us about the true spectrum of the disease, early testing suggests some people who are positive were not aware they had been infected. This will help us understand the viruses prevalence in Bonner County.”

The serology test looks for antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) in the blood to determine if there has been a past infection, BGH officials said in a press release. IgM is the first antibody that is formed, usually within 1-2 weeks; which is then followed by the production of IgG, which appears in about 2 weeks. IgM quickly disappears from the blood, but IgG can last for years.

A positive antibody test means the person being tested was infected with COVID-19 in the past and their immune system developed antibodies to fight it off. The serology test is different from the PCR test, which determines if there is an active infection of SARS-CoV-2.

Serology testing can identify people who had an infection in the past, even if they had no symptoms of the illness, BGH officials said. They added the testing may also be able to help determine who has some level of immunity to COVID-19 and help determine who qualifies to donate convalescent plasma (a blood product that contains antibodies against COVID-19 and can be used as a COVID-19 treatment). If many people in a community test, it can help public health leaders and researchers know what percentage of the population has already had COVID-19, hospital officials said.

The serology test is performed through a blood sample and must be ordered by the patient’s primary care provider. The processing of the tests will be performed in-house, meaning patients will receive their test results the same day, BGH official said. The cost of the test is $60 and is covered by some insurance companies. Those interested should contact their insurance provider for confirmation of coverage.

The serology testing follows approval in mid-April of the hospital’s clearance to perform its own COVID-19 tests to determine if a patient was positive for the virus or not. The validation of its in-house testing system allowed the hospital to determine if someone was positive for COVID-19 inl only take three or four hours instead of the up to five days it took by sending tests to its reference lab.

BGH lab team members were ready to provide the tests in late March but had to delay their plans when the company decided to manually allocate test kits to “hot spot” areas. As a result, BGH was pushed to the bottom of the list.

“With increased production we are slowly getting our order filled weekly and will continue to order test kits as able,” Binnall said.

That process was done over a period of time, and with different personnel, to validate every step of the process, BGH lab officials said. The validation samples were obtained from purchased commercial quality control reagents, samples from the Idaho Bureau of Laboratories in Boise and samples tested by the hospital’s reference laboratory. The 30 samples were tested — 15 positives and 15 negatives — by all BGH lab personnel who will be performing the test.

The in-house test system will allow BGH to quickly determine the COVID status of a patient. If the patient needs to be admitted, they can be held in the hospital’s ER quarantine room until their status is determined. If they are positive for the virus, they can be moved to the hospital’s COVID dedicated isolation wing or into a normal room and care from nurses outside the isolation area if test results are negative.

Caroline Lobsinger can be reached by email at clobsinger@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @CarolDailyBee.