CDC chief expects second coronavirus wave, says wide scale antibody tests on the way

The U.S. will be “much more prepared” for the second wave of the coronavirus as scientists and officials develop antibody tests for large-scale distribution and use, says Centers of Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield. 

Such tests look for antibodies in a person’s blood made by the body’s immune system in response to an infection. Having those antibodies could make people immune from getting the coronavirus again and help officials decide who – particularly among frontline doctors and nurses – can safely return to work throughout the country.

“I think that we will be much more prepared for it as it comes back a second time,” Redfield recently told NBC News.

Officials think about 25 % of the population unknowingly has or had the virus because some of those infected can exhibit no symptoms. Officials also, since the start of the pandemic, have predicted a second wave in the fall or winter – after the summer months when such infections fade. 

While Redfield emphasized the importance of such testing he also made clear that the science is still a work in progress. 

“It's important to emphasize that we haven't yet proven that once you develop antibodies, [that you develop protective immunity]. It's still a scientific hypothesis that this virus will lead to protective immunity of some duration,” he said.

He said population surveys associated with the testing should be complete in the coming months but that the FDA has already approved some testing and that large companies will be making more serology tests available in the coming weeks.

“I think the serology surveys are going to give us a better understanding of the differential disease penetration that occurred in different populations,” he said. “For example, in younger individuals versus older individuals and individuals with pre-existing conditions, those without them. We'll have all of that crystallized, I think pretty well, over the next several months.” 

However, he suggested that officials will likely not know until late 2021 whether the antibodies will make people fully immune.

“Is the immune response protective or not? I think that's going to take us, pretty much, through the next year to be able to understand what the protection is, and how long we can see that last will probably take years for that to happen,” he said.