Why T-Detect?
It can help you:
Give your employees peace of mind. Assess and improve your workplace safety procedures.
Support employees with lingering symptoms who never got tested or are unsatisfied with prior COVID testing.
It can also help your employees understand their past exposure, allowing them to make important decisions about their health.
Of the many COVID tests available, the T-Detect COVID Test is the first test that detects T cells to determine if you’ve had recent or past infection with COVID.

Learn more
Read the T-Detect COVID employer brochure.
How it works
1. Prescription
Doctor orders the T-Detect COVID Test via our secure ordering portal.
2. Blood draw
Certified phlebotomist collects the blood sample and mails the kit back to us.
3. Results
We provide results to the doctor via our secure portal.
We’ll work with your organization to determine the ordering process that works best for your employees.
Special pricing for the T-Detect COVID Test for employers due to the public health emergency.
Frequently Asked Questions
COVID-19 is a communicable respiratory viral infection caused by SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2). It was first identified in Wuhan, China, in late 2019 and is responsible for an ongoing worldwide pandemic.
Symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, cough, fatigue/malaise, shortness of breath, myalgias, and loss of smell and taste. Severe COVID-19 illness may progress to ARDS, shock and multi-organ failure, thromboembolism, and death.
- T cells are the first responders of the adaptive immune system and activate the antibody response. While antibodies naturally wane and are detectable in the shorter term, T cell responses persist in the blood long after antibody responses wane.1
- The T-Detect COVID Test can detect T cells in your blood sample that can remain for up to several months after symptoms appear.1,2,3
- Zuo J, et al. Robust SARS-CoV-2-specific T-cell immunity is maintained at 6 months following primary infection. bioRxiv. 2020.
- Channappanavar R, et al. Virus-specific memory CD8 T cells provide substantial protection from lethal Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus infection. J Virol. 2014;88(19):11034-11044.
- Ng O, et al. Memory T cell responses targeting the SARS coronavirus persist up to 11 years post-infection. Vaccine. 2016;34(17):2008-2014.
- T cells are key players in the adaptive immune system.When your body is invaded by a foreign substance like a virus or bacteria, the immune system begins to rally one of its earliest lines of defense, helper T cells, to join the fight.
- Helper T cells may call on their allies to kickstart antibody production to
support the fight against the disease. Helper T cells also alert killer T cells to foreign invaders to be destroyed. - After your body has fought off an infection or disease, a small number of T cells remain in the blood. They are called memory T cells and their job is to remember how to ward off these invaders if they ever return.
- By mapping the T cells that fought off a disease and detecting them in a blood sample, we can diagnose many diseases at once.
The T-Detect COVID Test can detect an immune response to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 disease, to assess recent or past infection. It is not intended for the diagnosis of active/current SARS-CoV-2 infection.
- In preliminary studies, when the T-Detect COVID Test was compared with serology testing:
- In one study, ~2 months after PCR Diagnosis, the T-Detect COVID test detected 97% of COVID positive patients, while the serology (antibody) tests had a range of 77-97% detecting of COVID positive patients.1
- In another study, 5+ months after PCR diagnosis, the T-Detect COVID test detected 95% of COVID positive patients, while the serology (antibody) tests had a range of 52-71% in detection of COVID positive patients.2
- In studies, T-Detect COVID Test showed a specificity of >99%.2
- Gittelman RM, et al. Diagnosis and tracking of past SARS-CoV-2 infection in a large study of Vo’, Italy through T-cell receptor sequencing. medRxiv. 2020.
- Adaptive Data on File
A T cell response is typically detectable in blood several days after initial infection. How long this response lasts post-infection and the implication for immunity are not known. In this study, T cells were shown to persist in the blood for more than six months after initial infection1 and studies of other coronaviruses show T cells responses can persist for several years.2,3
- Zuo J, et al. Robust SARS-CoV-2-specific T-cell immunity is maintained at 6 months following primary infection. bioRxiv. 2020.
- Channappanavar R, et al. Virus-specific memory CD8 T cells provide substantial protection from lethal Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus infection. J Virol. 2014;88(19):11034-11044.
- Ng O, et al. Memory T cell responses targeting the SARS coronavirus persist up to 11 years post-infection. Vaccine. 2016;34(17):2008-2014.
Samples are processed within 5-7 days of receipt in the lab. Estimated total time for results is 7-10 days from the time of your blood draw.
- The T-Detect COVID Test results are a positive or negative result. A positive result means there was a recent or past exposure to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, while a negative result indicates that past exposure to SARS-CoV-2 probably did not occur.
Contact the Clinical Services team at 888-552-8988 opt 1 for contracted pricing and more information on the ordering process that works best for you and your employees.
We have several options. Adaptive will work with you to determine the ordering process that work best for you and your employees.
- Adaptive does not share individual protected health information (PHI) with employers.
- Results will be made available to the prescribing physician, who will then share the results with the patient.
- Employers can ask their employees to consent to testing and to agree to share de-identified summary results with the employer.
- Employer COVID-19 testing and screening protocols and policies adhere to relevant state and local guidelines, which vary greatly by jurisdiction. Furthermore, general fundamental privacy law principles of transparency, notice, choice, and fairness should guide your practices.
- An employer may choose to administer COVID-19 RT-PCR testing to employees before initially permitting them to enter the workplace and/or periodically to determine if their presence in the workplace poses a direct threat to others.
- The ADA does not interfere with employers following recommendations by the CDC or other public health authorities regarding whether, when, and for whom testing or other screening is appropriate. Federal and state guidelines should be consulted when determining back to work criteria and appropriateness of testing.
- The T-Detect COVID Test is a T cell test which determines past exposure. It should not be used to determine active COVID-19 infection.
Please contact Adaptive to discuss pricing and payment options.
The T-Detect COVID Test is not currently covered by insurance. Patient is responsible for blood draw fees, co-pay for doctor visit, and any additional associated costs. The T-Detect COVID Test is FSA/HSA eligible.
The T-Detect COVID Test is available to be prescribed by healthcare professionals in all U.S. states, except for state of New York at this time. The state of New York requires laboratories conducting clinical testing on specimens from New York to obtain a special clinical laboratory permit. We are actively working with the proper regulatory bodies to gain the necessary approvals and we expect to provide access to the test in New York in early 2021. For updates on when the test is available to be prescribed in the state of New York, please sign-up for email updates here.
The T-Detect COVID Test is only available in the United States and is not available in U.S. Territories.
In vitro diagnostic for prescription use only. This test has not been cleared or approved by the FDA. The T-Detect COVID Assay is available for use as a CLIA-validated laboratory developed test (LDT). T-Detect COVID is not indicated for use in patients under age 18.
For Patients
The T-Detect COVID Test can detect past infection months after exposure.
For Physicians
The T-Detect COVID Test can capture COVID infections that may be missed by serology testing.
For Researchers
The T-Detect COVID Test can support your research due to its high sensitivity and specificity.
References:
- Gittelman RM, et al. Diagnosis and tracking of past SARS-CoV-2 infection in a large study of Vo’, Italy through T-cell receptor sequencing. medRxiv. 2020
- Zuo J, et al. Robust SARS-CoV-2-specific T-cell immunity is maintained at 6 months following primary infection. 2020.