Doctor: New York 'another Wuhan'

Nicole B. Saphier, MD, a radiologist who has been giving broadcast advice on the Covid-19 epidemic, says that a new antibody blood test may work well to alleviate the lockdown mentality sweeping the country.

Saphier, who works for Memorial Sloan-Kettering cancer centers in New York and New Jersey, said that the new test is being checked out by a number of institutions, including her former employer, Mayo Clinic.

Saphier said that the antibody test could relieve pressure in the distribution of nasal swabs used in the current test. The antibody test reveals whether a person is or has been infected by the Sars-CoV virus, which triggers the disease Covid-19. A person's immune system develops antibodies in response to invader viruses and bacteria. These antibodies then tend to stay in the bloodstream in case they need to do battle again.

The antibody test differs from another blood test, an antigen test, which looks for the actual virus, Saphier observed.

Marc Siegel, MD, has come out in favor of the antigen test on grounds that mass testing can identify those who are infected versus those who are not. Those who are infected would be cautioned against contact with the immuno-compromised and seniors, he said, warning that mass quarantines tend to make matters worse. Saphier seemed to agree when questioned by a TV interviewer, saying that the antibody test shows promise against the current barrage of shutdown decrees coming from mayors and governors.

Siegel updated his remarks on Wednesday, saying that the New York region has become "another Wuhan" and that expanded testing would permit authorities to permit more flexibility in less distressed areas. But he agreed that people fleeing the area might well be inadvertently spreading the virus across the nation.

The White House has urged self-quarantine for anyone who leaves New York State, but this suggestion relies on voluntary compliance, a somewhat iffy siruation. The Covid-19 virus was spread across the globe by people fleeing Wuhan in order to escape it.

Mayo Clinic  has announced that it had "significantly expanded its capacity to test clinical samples" for the Sars-CoV-2 virus. "With new equipment that went online last week, Mayo Clinic Laboratories now has the capacity to process Covid-19 test samples from all Mayo Clinic sites," clinic spokespersons said. "In addition, it has begun processing test samples from its clients across Minnesota, including eight major health systems."

"The capability to test and process clinical samples for the SARS-CoV-2 virus is urgently needed nationwide and we have been working around the clock to make this expansion happen as quickly as possible," William Morice II, head of Mayo Clinic Laboratories, said in a statement. "Our expanded capacity will expedite caring for patients at this critical time, and hopefully will ease the burden being felt at test processing laboratories in Minnesota and a growing number of geographies."

Morice, who holds MD and PhD degrees, is also chief of Mayo Clinic’s Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology.

Mayo clinic spokespersons said,

The expanded capacity is made possible by three high-throughput diagnostic processors from Roche Diagnostics, running the Roche cobas® SARS-CoV-2 Test. These instruments are in operation at Mayo Clinic's Superior Drive Support Center in Rochester.

This test processing capability is in addition to the Covid-19 testing developed by Mayo Clinic's Clinical Virology Laboratory. Announced last week, that test process is available for the Mayo Clinic practice. The Clinical Virology Laboratory, directed by microbiologist Matthew Binnicker, Ph.D., has also increased its capacity as of Wednesday.

With all testing options, Mayo Clinic now can process as many as 4,000 Covid-19 tests daily. Morice says that number likely will grow in coming weeks. "We anticipate that with the ongoing need for Covid-19 testing that we will need to expand our capabilities, and we're prepared to do that."