'I'm still not getting close to people': Iowa man's bout with COVID-19 illuminates why we also need testing for antibodies

Editorial: Ames man who tested positive and his exposed friends underscore the importance of knowing who may be immune to future infections.

The Register's editorial

Everyone is focused on the numbers. The number of people who test positive for COVID-19. The number of deaths. The numbers of hospital beds, medical staff and ventilators. 

There is another number we need to know: how many Americans have contracted the coronavirus, recovered and have built antibodies. 

To understand antibodies, understand that the first time a body encounters a germ, it works to muster the tools needed to get over an infection. After the infection, the immune system remembers what it learned about how to protect the body against that same germ. It builds antibodies. 

Widespread testing for antibodies to the coronavirus and understanding of potential immunity are a key part of fighting and recovering from this pandemic. 

CORONAVIRUS NEWS:The latest on developments with COVID-19 in Iowa

Health care workers who were ill but never tested could return to work if they knew they had some protection against contracting the virus again. A test may also help with an experimental treatment in which doctors collect blood from people who have recovered from the disease in hopes that antibodies in their blood can treat those who are currently sick. 

Yet this country does not know how many of us have contracted the virus, let alone how many have built protective antibodies. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most people with COVID-19 have mild illness and are able to recover at home without medical care.

RELATED: Arizona researchers working on tests to detect COVID-19 antibodies

Elliot Thompson, 37, of Ames is one of those people who recovered at home. 

He said he was the first person to test positive for the virus in Story County and received the results on March 20. A Register editorial writer interviewed him on April 1. 

His story illustrates how fast this pandemic is unfolding in communities across the country. It also offers some hope for those of us who are wondering what is going on with Iowans who have tested positive for COVID-19.

Thompson thinks he was likely exposed to the virus when he was traveling to Missouri and Chicago from March 6 to 8. He returned home to Ames and went to a show with several friends on the 9th. 

He said a few days later he was “floored with an intense fever and chills and aches.” The fever went on for four or five nights. He had low energy, was coughing and had trouble taking deep breaths.

He called First Nurse, a 24-hour line affiliated with Mary Greeley Medical Center, and told her his symptoms and where he had traveled. She told him to call his doctor. 

Thompson went to his doctor on Thursday the 12th and was tested for seasonal influenza and strep, which came back negative. Then on Sunday night, the doctor called and asked him to come in on Monday the 16th for a COVID-19 test. They met in the parking lot of the clinic and the doctor swabbed his nose. 

“It was very uncomfortable and felt like it was in your brain," Thompson said.

Four days later, on Friday, March 20, his doctor called with the results. Thompson was positive. A public health official called daily to check on him. He stayed in contact with his doctor. And he stayed at home, texting with friends, including those who had attended the show with him on March 9. 

Some of them were exhibiting symptoms, too. 

His friend Will Pett, a post-doctoral researcher in evolutionary biology at Iowa State University, has kept a calendar for the past month recording developments with the group. 

Pett shared the calendar with a Register editorial writer. Entries include: 

March 11th: Elliot texted “I think I have coronavirus."

March 12th: Two more friends got “the flu.” 

March 13th: Trump declared a national emergency. 

March 14th: Sharon got the Big C?

March 15th: DD down

March 16th: Elliot got tested.

March 17th: Restaurants and Bars close at noon. 

March 19th: Stacy down. 

March 20th: Elliot tested POSITIVE!

Pett, who attended the March 9 show in Ames, has also remained isolated. He said he is frustrated by the lack of testing and reliable information being given to Iowans.

“After Elliot tested positive, I called the First Nurse. She said the test didn’t work unless someone is displaying symptoms, which isn’t true. I got some pretty inaccurate information,” he said. 

Now, like his friends and many other Iowans, he’s wondering if he may have had the virus and not known it. He’s wondering whether he may have some immunity.

“I have just been staying home, holed up and seeing only the same few people for the past two and a half weeks,” said Pett. 

Thompson and all his friends have been keeping distance from others. He is feeling much better and said that, as far as he knows, his friends are too. But it is not yet clear how long those who have been infected may be contagious to others. 

“I’m still not getting close to people,” he said. 

How do antibodies work?

An editorial writer asked Dr. Tom Benzoni, an emergency room physician in Des Moines, about building antibodies to COVID-19. He cautioned scientists are unsure how protective antibodies are with the coronavirus. “We do know from prior work and experience that protection is incomplete. You can get the same infection after a while. Even vaccines wear off," he said. 

And Benzoni’s explanation for how antibodies work is definitely worth sharing with Iowans: 

“Imagine there is an invading organism; coronavirus will do. The body has cells that eat germs. (Like kids eat dirt.) Pull up Pac-Man. But the virus is slimy; it's coated in fat, after all. So the body makes a chemical that sticks to the virus, making (mouth-holds) on the virus. (This is called opsonization when referring to encapsulated bacteria, for the science crowd that wants big words.) Then Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde get gobbled up. (Burp!)”