NYC doctor gains insight on antibody testing, talks surviving COVID-19

Dr. Jake Deutsch has been on the front lines of the pandemic not only in his own Urgent Care offices in New York City, but also as a patient who battled through his own case of coronavirus that resulted in pneumonia.

New York City remains the epicenter for COVID-19 cases. One doctor, Dr. Jake Deutsch has been on the front lines not only in his Cure Urgent Care offices, but also as a patient who battled through his own case of Coronavirus that resulted in pneumonia.

Deutsch, who likes to be called Dr. Jake, spoke to FOX 11’s Tony McEwing.

Dr. Jake is the founder and Clinical Director of Cure Urgent Care and has a unique perspective after a two-week experience suffering from the virus.

As a healthy man in his 40s, he was surprised at how ill he became.

“When I first heard about COVID, I kind of wanted to get done with it…it was supposed to be flu-like…I never expected to be as ill as I was for as long as I was,” Deutsch said.

He said the silver-lining of his experience was gaining a unique perspective and understanding of what his patients were dealing with, including their anxiety and fear.

Cure Urgent Care was one of the first NYC facilities to offer antibody testing. Deutsch said he, along with his staff, have been able to confirm antibodies in patients who were sick, but unable to get tested for COVID at the time, as well as patients who have never had any symptoms but have had the virus without even knowing it.

“This is really valuable information, we are confirming those illnesses and we’re identifying a large patient population that didn’t even know that they were ill.”

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