This week, Ochsner hospital will begin testing for coronavirus antibodies.
The presence of antibodies specific to COVID-19 can not only tell doctors who has been exposed, it can indicate who has already had the disease -- maybe a mild case that couldn't be distinguished from another illness, or maybe never having developed symptoms at all.
"We're working through exactly how we're going to roll out the antibody testing," said Ochsner Health System President and CEO Warner Thomas. Thomas said they'll start with their own workers at first.
"There is a sense that this was kind of simmering in our community," said Ochsner Chief Medical Officer Dr. Robert Hart . Dr. Hart said it is possible that even before Mardi Gras brought hundreds of thousands of visitors, the virus could have been present in New Orleans.
"We may find out that a lot of people could well have antibodies to COVID-19 (and) not even realize that they were exposed along the way" he said.
Other hospital systems in Louisiana have begun COVID-19 antibody testing, including LSU Shreveport and CHRISTUS Health.