On Jul. 1, 2020, OPKO Health announced the results of COVID-19 molecular PCR and antibody tests for nursing home and live-in facility employees.

On May 10, New York State mandated that all personnel at nursing home and adult care facilities were to be tested for active COVID-19 infection using PCR-based molecular testing, twice per week. The personnel tested included all employees pursuant to a plan developed by the facility and filed with the Department of Health.

At the start of the program, many nursing homes asked that employees be tested for antibodies at the same time. The majority of the nearly 3,500 antibody tests were performed within the first two weeks of May. With 29% of employees testing positive for antibodies, an extrapolated estimate for the approximately 140,000 total nursing home staff in New York State suggests as many as 41,760 nursing home staff members in New York State could have had COVID-19 prior to early May.

“Of the 3,500 nursing home staff that we tested, 29% were positive for antibodies. The very high positivity rate of antibodies in this employee group by early May would suggest that a significant number of nursing home employees had active COVID-19 disease early on in the outbreak. Although overall positivity rate for active infection is now low, over 6,000 employees were identified with active virus when we tested in May and June. By identifying these individuals, the mandatory testing program most likely prevented the further spread of the virus to thousands of vulnerable nursing home residents. Although it is impossible to calculate, many deaths had to have been prevented,” said Jon R. Cohen, M.D., Executive Chairman of BioReference Laboratories. “Throughout this unrelenting health crisis, BioReference has made it a priority to provide testing to those at an increased risk of COVID-19 infection, and we are proud of our efforts to help combat the spread of this virus.”