Amarillo health officials are asking people who have recovered from COVID-19 to donate plasma for treating more seriously ill patients. The Amarillo City Council is also expected to extend the city’s shelter in place order on Tuesday, when the current order expires.
In a press conference broadcast on the City of Amarillo’s Facebook page Monday, Dr. Scott Milton, with the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center at Amarillo Public Health Authority, asked people who received positive COVID-19 tests – but completely recovered – to donate plasma.
“I would like to ask any individual who is at least three weeks out from their confirmed positive test and they are symptom free to contact us at the health department if you would be willing to be a donor,” Milton said.
The antibodies in plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients can be used to treat more seriously ill COVID-19 patients – for instance, patients who are on a ventilator or about to go on a ventilator.
“Because when people recover then part of the natural immune response is that we create proteins that are antibodies that are produced by our immune system that can be utilized to treat someone who’s acutely ill and not been able to produce those antibodies yet,” he explained, adding that potential donors would need to undergo a second nasal swab test to confirm that they are negative for the virus.
On Monday, Amarillo reported 152 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 79 in Potter County and 73 in Randall County. Much of those cases contracted the virus through community spread. (See the latest COVID-9 Report Card, pictured above in English and en Espanol).
Mayor Ginger Nelson said that while the rate of increase in positive cases has greatly diminished, she doesn’t believe it is enough warrant letting the shelter in place order expire on Tuesday.
“I can’t speak for what the city council will do, but if we’re looking for a substantial drop in cases, we haven’t seen that and I think that’s really the primary criteria for considering whether or not it’s time to end the shelter in place order,” Nelson said. “And if they agree to extend that order, I would anticipate that it would come in a two week segment and that it would be under the exact same terms that we’re under right now.”
To donate plasma or if you suspect you have symptoms of COVID-19, call the city’s health department at 806-378-6300.
