HUNTSVILLE, Ala. —
New studies are being launched in Huntsville and COVID-19 antibody testing is starting to become available to the public.
As researchers race to find a treatment for coronavirus, Madison County health groups are joining in. You might be able to help.
David Spillers, CEO of Huntsville Hospital says, “Everyone's telling us the vaccine will be off in the future-- hopefully it’ll be sooner rather than later. But, all estimates are a year from now before we have a vaccine.”
And because universal prevention is so far away, treatment options have kicked into gear. Huntsville Hospital, HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, and iRepertoire are teaming up to try to develop a treatment-- with the help of people who’ve recovered. Spillers says, “We’ll take their blood and use that to develop treatments for people who have the disease.”
LabCorps announced they’ll be giving antibody testing for anyone with a physician’s order at no upfront cost. David Spillers say this could be a step in the right direction. He says, “I think it will probably help us get a handle on how many people have actually been impacted by this.”
He says it could give a more accurate idea of just how many people have actually been exposed to COVID-19 and how they fight off the virus. Spillers adds, “We don’t know, if you’ve got the antibodies, how long these antibodies last or how long you’ll be immune from another round of COVID-19. There’s still so much we don’t know about this particular virus.”
Because of Gov. Ivey's “Safer-at-Home” policy, local hospitals will start performing elective surgeries again. Spillers says, “Our issue has always been “are we going to run out of supplies?”-- because COVID patients use so much more PPE than other patients. As long as that supply chain is working, then we may never have to stop doing elective surgeries.”
Some people will be returning to work.
As of now, Madison County does not have a universal masking policy in place. Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle explains. He says, “When you go for a walk, you don’t need a mask at that point. You need fresh air more than you need a mask. If you’re working in the yard, you don’t need a mask at that point."
But, masking is encouraged in potentially crowded public spaces, and officials have a plan for those who may not have access to masks. Spillers says, “We’ve ordered 250,000 masks that we’re going to make available for people in the community to areas that need masking.” Spillers tells reporters those masks are in storage right now. Officials are working on finding an efficient way to distribute them to locals in need.