New York is set to start statewide antibody testing, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Sunday.
The testing will serve as a "baseline" to see how many people have been infected with the novel coronavirus, Cuomo said.
The test will draw from a random sample of people, and the state currently has the ability to run 2,000 tests per day, 14,000 a week. Cuomo said he anticipates it'll be the "largest survey of any state population that's been done." On Twitter, the governor called it the "most aggressive" statewide antibody testing survey in the nation.
Knowing how many people have been infected with the novel coronavirus will be key to allowing Americans to go back to work and lessening social distancing measures meant to suppress the spread of the virus.
To pull off the widespread testing, however, Cuomo said the state will need support from the national government to ensure supplies needed to perform the tests are available.
The move to begin antibody testing is happening at a time when hospitalization rates related to COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, are down. As of Saturday, 16,213 people in the state were hospitalized.
"If the data holds and if this trend holds, we are past the high point and all indications at this pot are that we're on a descent," Cuomo said. "Whether or not that continues depends on what we do."
There were 507 deaths related to COVID-19 reported in New York on Saturday, 33 of which occurred in nursing homes, down from 540 on Friday.