Brookline will conduct random COVID-19 antibody testing
Hundreds of residents were selected at random to be tested next week, along with 200 first responders and essential workers, officials said.
Related Links
Brookline will conduct COVID-19 antibody testing next week on 400 randomly selected residents and 200 of the town’s first responders and essential workers, officials announced Wednesday.
The initiative, through a partnership with Massachusetts General Hospital and Fallon Ambulance, will work to determine how prevalent COVID-19 antibodies are among the group and can then help health professionals determine how many people have contracted the coronavirus without showing symptoms, town leaders said in a press release.
The residents, who have the option not to participate, have already been randomly selected through census data and will be mailed a notice of their selection, according to officials.
Those who are not contacted by the Department of Public Health will not be tested due to the limited availability of tests. Testing is intended only for residents who have not displayed symptoms of COVID-19.
“Having a sample size level understanding of the prevalence of COVID-19 antibodies among residents and first responders is a critical step in building our understanding of the true size and scale of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Dr. Swannie Jett, Brookline’s director of public health, said in a statement. “I’m grateful for our partners at Massachusetts General Hospital for facilitating this work, and am hopeful it will shed further light on the true extent of impact this virus has had on our community.”
Trained professionals will use a finger stick test, which “collects a small amount of blood that will subsequently be analyzed by MGH staff on-site,” officials said. Residents will be notified of their test results.
First responders and essential workers employed by the town will be tested on Monday, and the selected residents will be tested on Friday, May 15, at Larz Anderson Park in a drive-through format, officials said.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com