Antibody tests available at CenturyLink Sports Complex site

The state-directed COVID-19 testing site at CenturyLink Sports Complex in Fort Myers now offers free antibody testing and self-administered coronavirus tests.

The site has the resources to conduct around 200 antibody tests each day, a number they exceeded Tuesday with 230 tests done before 1 p.m.

The test draws a sample of your blood, enough to show nurses if your body has produced antibodies that may have been used to fight the coronavirus in your body, even if you didn’t show any symptoms.

Fort Myers resident Nancy Melillo said she was sick for about five days with a bad cough, tightness in her chest and a fever. When she got tested for the virus, the results came back negative, but she’s hoping an antibody test will give her more answers.

“I became very sick on March 5 and was down for the count for about five days and was very tired recuperating, and decided it would be a good idea to find out whether I do have antibodies or not,” Melillo said.

“It’s a necessary test in my mind, and it’s a very good test, that will give us more specific answers to this disease we have,” said Lawrence Gregory of Fort Myers.

The testing site said they’re able to get antibody test results back to you on the same day.

The CenturyLink Sports Complex site, 14100 Ben C. Pratt/Six Mile Cypress Pkwy., is open every day at 9 a.m. and closes at 5 p.m. – or earlier if they run out of tests. The site may also close for weather-related reasons.