June 3, 2020 (Courtesy the Jacksonville Business Journal) Telescope Health, the local telemedicine company, will now offer antibody testing in collaboration with LabCorp and Quest Diagnostics to further support testing Covid-19 testing.
Patients will be screened for the test eligibility and receive a test order that they will then take to one of the labs’ sites.
Telescope’s app will provide interpretation of the results, as well as guidance on returning to work. Results could be back in a day or two.
The company decided to offer the antibody testing, in addition to its testing at the Prime Osborne Center, in an effort to provide citizens with more information on their exposure to the virus — and whether they have a resolved or active infection.
“Our prime goal was to give the public as much information about their exposure to Covid-19 as we possibly can,” said Matt Thompson, one of the founders of Telescope.
The testing does not test for a recent exposure to the virus, but it does provide an increased ability to gauge the spread of Covid-19. Thompson said that people with the virus often display mild symptoms that can be anything from being lightheaded, headaches or nausea. The antibody testing will determine immunity, if someone is at risk or recurrent infections or if they’ve had a past infection.
Thompson said that the idea for the antibody testing came from a desire to provide additional information to the public. The partnership allows Telescope to provide and evaluate serology testing for anyone who has been without symptoms for 10 days.
“We’ve trained our physicians and our staff to really know how to interpret these results, and explain that to the patient,” Thompson said.
There are provider portals for each lab location, so anyone who receives a test will have immediate access to those records. Telescope also has a care coordination department that can answer questions on whether family needs testing and other areas of concerns.
The two laboratory companies will be able to process between 40,000 and 50,000 tests each day, Thompson said. Quest and Labcorp has various locations across Northeast Florida, which he said should enable them to handle large scale testing, such as helping businesses that want to test their entire workforce.Thompson said testing will be integral to the reopening of the economy. By providing more information on exposure, it’ll allow citizens to know when to quarantine, stay away from work and even elderly family members. He said that people will often believe they only have allergies but end up testing positive for the virus.
“I think the more information that we get to know who has definitely been exposed, and who has been exposed and has resolved, that can help us be more confident in saying, these people can return to work,” Thompson said.
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