Tests: 3% have encountered COVID-19

State official releases results from antibody testing for the first time

Expanded testing in Oklahoma for antibodies to

COVID-19 has shown about 3% of those tested have been exposed to the virus, according to a report from the state's interim epidemiologist.

Aaron Wendel boe, who com piles a weekly report updating elements of the pandemic in Oklahoma, included antibody test results for the first time on Friday.

Wendelboe said the tests are not as accurate as those used to determine if a person is infected with C OVID19. And a spokesperson for the Oklahoma State Health Department said the two types of tests were not combined to calculate the state's infection rate. That rate, at 4.8% is low compared to most states. Virginia' s health department has been criticized for combining the tests, which measure two different things, to determine its infection rate.

“The most accurate and preferred method to diagnose COVID- 1 9 is using a molecular test and we have been reporting results based on these molecular tests ,” Wendelboe's report states.

The antibody tests“are helpful at determining if a person has been exposed to the COVID- 1 9 virus in

the help how spreading past. quickly us throughout These understand the virus results our is communities.” According to the report, there were 5,098 antibody tests conducted in Oklahoma from May 8 through Thursday, with 159 positives, f or a rate of 3.1%. In total, 13,642 antibody tests have been conducted in Oklahoma, and 459 came

back positive, for a rate of 3.3%.

Experts have been careful to say the presence of antibodies does not make a person immune to the disease. And the accuracy has been questioned of many of the antibody tests in use for the coronavirus. A Norman company that conducted the first antibody tests in the state was using a test that had not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which is true of most on the market. Wendelboe cautioned

that an individual antibody test result “does not necessarily mean that a person is immune or that they are not infectious to others.”

Meanwhile, the report released on Friday, which covers the week of May 8 through Thursday, says:

• Confirmed cases of COVID- 19 dropped by 11% in the week, compared to the week of May 1 through May 7.

• Deaths attributed to the disease dropped 37%.

• The number of people who recovered from the disease rose by nearly 16%.

The state of Oklahoma, along with Oklahoma City and Tulsa, began reopening restaurants, retail stores and places of worship on May 1, and officials have been watching carefully for a spike in cases that might delay the next phase of reopening.

That next phase began Friday as scheduled. Bars were allowed to open, with reduced ca pa cities, and weddings and funerals were allowed to resume. In the state's two largest cities, the cap on gatherings was raised from 10 to 50 people.