The Need for Blood in East Texas is Critical
Because of coronavirus, hundreds of blood drives have been canceled in the past two weeks and they need donations now. And here's the twist. The blood of coronavirus survivors may help treat others.
With so many don'ts right now, it's hard to wrap our brains around the idea that there is something that someone really wants us to get out and do! And this is urgent.
Blood banks are desperate for blood after the coronavirus canceled blood drive after blood drive across not only East Texas but the U.S. as a whole. They need to restock and restock in a hurry. It's completely safe to donate even in this social-distancing world that we live in, and they're encouraging healthy donors to make an appointment now.
(The Red Cross says you should postpone your donation for 28 days if you've traveled to China, Hong Kong and Macau, as well as Iran, Italy and South Korea. And it goes without saying, if you've been exposed to COVID-19, you should stay away.)
Carter BloodCare in Tyler is open every day except Sunday, and you can make an appointment HERE. Carter BloodCare said its donors help provide blood for 90% of the hospitals in North, Central, and East Texas, and they "need a minimum of 700 successful donations in the next five days." That's urgent.
Oh, and wouldn't it be amazing if blood donations across America this weekend jump-started the process of healing coronavirus patients? The FDA is investigating using plasma from blood taken from coronavirus patients who have recovered and injecting that into other patients to see if it could jump-start their immune response.
According to TechCrunch, U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn said at a press briefing Thursday, "If you’ve been exposed to coronavirus and you’re better, you don’t have the virus in your blood. We could collect the blood now, this is a possible treatment. This is not a proven treatment, I just want to emphasize that, [but we would] collect the blood, concentrate that and have the ability, once it’s pathogen-free, that is virus-free, be able to give that to other patients and the immunoglobulins, the immune response could potentially provide a benefit to patients.”
For a million reasons, blood donations are more important than ever. And if you've been feeling helpless in this whole mess like I have, it might feel good to do something good and be part of a solution.
Not to mention, it will get us out of the house this weekend.