That a budget hotel has become a makeshift medical facility offering unproven antibody tests highlights the gaps in regulatory oversight at the local, state and federal levels during this pandemic.
Across Seattle, blue yard signs along busy streets advertise walk-in “FDA approved” antibody tests at COVID-19 Test Center.
The location, on 12th Avenue in Capitol Hill, looks less than clinical: It’s a gray AirBnB hotel with cardboard hung in the windows. An industrial-size laundry detergent bucket next to the front door has “PCR SWAB COVID test” scrawled on the lid in black marker.
Dr. Eric Friedland, an emergency room physician at Overlake Medical Center, runs Covid Test Center out of a hotel room in Roy Street Commons, the budget lodging he and his wife operate. With travel down due to the pandemic, “I have an empty hotel, and I have, you know, knowledge and passion and this other ability,” Dr. Friedland said.
Dr. Friedland said he has drawn 400 people’s blood for antibody testing so far, at $129 each, to determine whether they have already had, and recovered from, Covid-19. He has also started offering $139 self-administered swabs for active infections. “We’re trying to do the right thing and help people,” Friedland said. “This isn’t a moneymaker for me.”
