Medical group already offering antibody testing at a handful of Florida locations

One medical group in Central Florida is already at the forefront

SUMTER COUNTY, Fla. – Gov. Ron DeSantis has announced antibody testing will soon be coming to the Orange County Convention Center. Antibody testing will also take place at a location in Jacksonville.

Medical groups across Florida are fighting to get access to the labs and the antibody tests so they can start offering them at their own facilities.

One medical group in Central Florida is already at the forefront and has already started offering the tests this week to those living in Marion, Lake, and Sumter counties.

Premier Medical Associates is currently offering antibody testing to anyone who wants one at their offices in Ocala, The Villages, Bushnell, and Leesburg.

"It's ramping up across the board," said Craig Esquenazi, who serves as the Director of Operations and Legal Counsel for PMA. "People are trying to get these tests constantly. They're asking for it. And we have the test. And we are ready and able to do it."

Esquenazi said their antibody tests are FDA approved and like the state, they too plan to offer drive-up testing.

But instead of using rapid testing which can provide results in 15 minutes, Esquenazi says they are choosing to use a serology test to get results.

“We are very confident that the IgG antibody shows up on the test, and we’re confident in that testing, so that’s why we’re doing it,” said Esquenazi.

Before patients can come to a PMA office to get their blood drawn, Esquenazi says they will have to get screened and have a time set to come in. Patients wanting to sign up can go to CORONA@PMACARE.COM. Once the antibody test is done, PMA will send it to one of the major labs they work with - which includes Lab Corp. and Quest.

“We just want to be able to help people,” said Esquenazi. “We’ve made it available for people, we have enough tests for the people. So anybody calling in, anybody emailing, anybody who wants to know if they have this COVID-19 virus - we are able to test them for the antibodies. And we’ll let you know in about two days.”

So what does it mean if your result comes in positive?

"It tells you that if you had the virus at one point, that strain of the virus for the IgG antibody, and then you will know if you had that at one point," confirmed Esquenazi.

He says PMA has access to more than a thousand tests and plans to roll out the antibody testing to all 15 of their locations in the coming weeks, including their offices in Kissimmee and Orlando.


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