antibody testing

Tests for the immune response to the coronavirus are revealing thousands of people who were infected but never got severely ill. The findings suggest the virus is less deadly than it first appeared.

As more and more people get tested for antibodies to the coronavirus, infectious disease specialists worry that those tested — and their employers — may not understand the limits of the results.

As scientists rush to find a vaccine that could end the global pandemic, some cities and states in the U.S. are relying on antibody testing to get a better picture of how the virus has spread and how many people it has infected.

What types of tests are available for the coronavirus, and how accurate are they? Here's a handy guide to the field.