U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat representing Virginia, said Thursday he and his wife have tested positive for antibodies to the coronavirus.
Kaine said in a press release he thinks they may have had mild cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, in March or April. He tested positive for the flu earlier this year and was given “standard” medication to treat it, but the symptoms lingered, and he continued to be treated through mid-March.
At the end of March, he got some new symptoms, which he chalked up to remnants of the flu and a reaction to spring pollen. His wife, Anne Holton, meanwhile, had a “short bout” of fever and chills, as well as congestion and a cough.
Speaking to doctors in April, the couple realized it was possible they could’ve had mild cases of COVID-19, Kaine wrote in the press release. They were tested for antibodies this month.
“We were both at home in Richmond, working remotely and isolated from others. Due to the national testing shortage, we were not tested for the virus but continued isolating and watched for any worsening of symptoms. By mid-April we were symptom free,” he said.
Antibody testing — also known as serological testing — is supposed to indicate whether someone was infected at one point and could be immune to the virus. But the test’s effectiveness remains in question, as it’s unclear how long the antibodies remain in the body after the infection is over and how long people are immune to the virus.
Some serologic tests could also react to coronaviruses other than COVID-19, such as those that cause the common cold, the Centers for Disease Control said this week. That could result in false-positive test results.
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam recently acknowledged after press inquiries that the state health department had been lumping antibody tests into the total count along with diagnostic nasal swab tests that detect a current coronavirus infection, something some experts say inflates the testing data and renders it useless.
Northam said he ordered the health department to begin reporting the two types of tests separately.
As of Thursday, 34,327 of the 319,600 tests performed in Virginia were antibody tests.
Marie Albiges, 757-247-4962, malbiges@dailypress.com
