Testing shortages: Local health departments consider blood tests.

As they continue to face shortages in testing supplies, several of Colorado’s local public health departments are considering deploying a new method to track the spread of the new coronavirus in their communities: blood tests.

Medical experts question the usefulness of the tests, which are in their infancy, when it comes to treating patients, but public health officials say they might help their departments determine who is immune.

Public health officials said having information on the spread of the coronavirus, along with any immunity in the community, will help them make policy decisions, such as when to lift their orders requiring residents to stay home.

“There are limitations to any of the tests out there, including the ones done through the state lab,” said Bill Linn, assistant police chief in Aspen and spokesman for the Pitkin County Incident Management Team.

“There’s value in those results in tracking the spread of the disease as well as … those people suffering having a diagnosis that makes sense to them,” he said.

State officials have said there’s no longer a backlog in Colorado’s state lab, but testing for the coronavirus remains limited to those hospitalized, health care workers and individuals most at risk for complications.

Officials at public health departments in Pitkin and Gunnison counties said they have reached out to companies developing blood tests for the new coronavirus.

When San Miguel County officials issued a stayat-home order last week for the area that includes Telluride, they also announced they were partnering with a company to do countywide testing using blood draws.

Health officials and doctors typically use swabs that can reach the nasopharynx, which is the upper part of the throat and behind the nose. These tests work by finding a piece of the virus, whereas blood tests search for antibodies, experts said.

The issue is that blood tests likely aren’t going to detect if someone has COVID-19 until at least five days after they develop symptoms and seven to eight days after they are infectious, said Dr. Alan

Wells, executive vice chairman of the Section of Laboratory Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

“When we’re managing patients in the hospital we like to know as soon as possible what they have,” added Dr. Timothy Brewer, professor of medicine and epidemiology at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Public health officials said the blood tests could help fill the gap they are facing in testing, which has been slow to roll out in Colorado amid supply shortages, allowing them to identify where the new coronavirus is spreading in their communities.

Given the lack of consistent testing, the number of cases confirmed by state health officials is likely lower than the actual number of people in Colorado with the illness.

So far, Pitkin County has tested about 38 people, including through its mobile testing site, Linn said.

And as of Thursday afternoon, Pitkin County health officials were waiting to hear back from the state Department of Public Health and Environment on the test results of swabs taken from three residents during mobile testing two weeks ago, Linn said.

Pitkin County health officials have reached out to Aytu BioScience about their tests, which Linn said can produce results in about 45 minutes. Aytu BioScience did not return calls and emails seeking comment.

Gunnison County officials have reached out to United Biomedical Inc., the same company partnering with San Miguel, but have not decided what blood tests to use.

“We’re still investigating all of our test options,” said Gunnison County Public Health Director Joni Reynolds. “It’s the most precise test that we’re trying to find, so that we don’t end up with false data.”

But Wells, who is also medical director of UPMC Clinical Laboratories, said there’s not enough known about the tests, including if they have proven to find the antibodies that show immunity.

“The trouble is clinically they are of limited action,” Wells said. “Currently from an epidemiology, they are not there in terms of knowing whether these are the antibodies we need to look for.”