CNN anchor Chris Cuomo announced Monday night that he is coronavirus free and was found to have antibodies that can potentially help protect him from reinfection.
“So, I tested negative — I don’t have the virus,” Cuomo, who was diagnosed about a month ago, said on his show. “Good for me. I also tested to show that I have both antibodies.”
But Cuomo questioned if the development is a reason to celebrate considering the World Health Organization recently cautioned that the presence of coronavirus antibodies does not prove immunity against the disease.
“Here’s the new thing, do I really have great news. What does it mean that I have antibodies? Am I really immune? Do they know?” Cuomo openly pondered before consulting on-air with CNN’s chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
“There’s a lot of confusion about what it does and doesn’t mean,” Cuomo said.
Gupta told Cuomo that “presumably you’re going to have some protection against this.”
“The thing is, that we need to prove it out,” continued Gupta. “We need to take some time to actually show that these antibodies are actually going to protect you.”
The WHO’s Saturday warning runs counter to what many survivors thought could be their ticket to freedom from COVID-19 lockdowns.
“Some governments have suggested that the detection of antibodies … could serve as the basis for an ‘immunity passport’ or ‘risk-free certificate,’” the WHO said.
“There is currently no evidence that people who have recovered from COVID-19 and have antibodies are protected from a second infection.”
Despite the uncertainty over antibody effectiveness, Cuomo vowed to donate his blood plasma, which can be used to treat coronavirus patients.
“If they want the blood, I’m gonna give it to them because that is the best thing I’ve heard of so far in terms of what I can do to help as someone who was sick,” Cuomo said.
