Want a COVID-19 antibody test? Donate your blood to Red Cross to help amid shortages
The American Red Cross announced Monday it will test all blood, platelet and plasma donations for coronavirus antibodies “for a limited time” to help donors learn if they had been exposed to the pathogen despite not showing symptoms.
The move comes as patients undergoing heart surgery, organ transplants and battling cancer, among other life-threatening conditions and accidents, continue to suffer from blood shortages due to canceled blood drives.
About 30,000 have been called off since March “as many businesses and community organizations restrict the number of individuals at their locations creating challenges for a stable blood supply,” a spokesperson for the nonprofit organization told McClatchy News.
“It’s important to remember that blood is perishable and cannot be stockpiled,” the group said in the statement.
“With the start of antibody testing, the Red Cross anticipates increased interest in blood donation appointments in the coming days,” the Red Cross said. “If there is not an appointment immediately available in a given area, donations in the days and weeks ahead are still critically important to ensure we can build a stable blood supply throughout the difficult summer months.”
The antibody tests, authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, will be performed on samples taken during donation, according to the statement. Results should be available within seven to 10 days.
The group said it is not testing to diagnose individuals with COVID-19 — the disease the coronavirus causes — and said the results do not confirm infection or immunity.
The Red Cross said it is not giving hospitals blood donations that tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies to help those currently suffering from the disease.
“Additional testing would need to occur to verify the blood product would help a patient battling COVID-19 as there are instances of false positives, or a test result that incorrectly states the presence of antibodies,” the group said on its website. “We are currently evaluating the possibility to do this in the future.”
OneBlood, a donation center servicing the Tampa Bay, South, Southeast and Central Florida area, also announced in May that it is testing all blood donations for COVID-19 antibodies.
The Florida group said donations with coronavirus antibodies “will likely be designated as convalescent plasma” — an experimental treatment to help people with severe COVID-19 to boost their ability to fight the virus, according to Mayo Clinic.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its coronavirus testing guidelines in May and said that antibody tests, also known as serology tests, can get it wrong about half of the time, McClatchy News previously reported.
This means some with a positive result will roam freely, putting themselves and others at risk of infection.
Blood donations exclude LGBTQ community
The Red Cross samples will be sent to a laboratory where “routine screening and infectious diseases testing” will be conducted, the statement said, including for HIV, which has prevented gay and bisexual men from donating in the past.
In 1983, the FDA implemented a lifetime ban for donating blood for gay and bisexual men in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, McClatchy News reported. The virus can spread via the blood and contact with open wounds and mouth sores.
In 2015, the agency revised its policy from a lifetime ban to a deferment period of one year after being sexually active. In April, the FDA shortened it to three months in response to severe blood shortages due to the pandemic.
The Red Cross said that hospital demand for blood products has increased by 30% after a “sharp decline” in demand in early April.
The rise in demand has “impacted the Red Cross’s ability to collect the nearly 13,000 blood donations and more than 2,600 platelet donations required to meet the daily needs of patients at hospitals and transfusion centers across the country,” the group said.
“There is no known end date in this fight against coronavirus, and the Red Cross urgently needs the help of donors and blood drive hosts ... as surgical procedures and treatments that were temporarily paused earlier this spring in response to COVID-19 resume.”
The FDA said it will start a pilot study to determine if a change to its policy that defers blood and plasma donations from gay and bisexual men is necessary, McClatchy News reported.
Andy Cohen, host of “Watch What Happens Live,” revealed that he can’t donate plasma because of his sexuality after he was diagnosed with the coronavirus.
“I signed up for a program for COVID-19 survivors where you could donate plasma, which is rich in antibodies, to those still battling the virus,” Cohen said on the show. “I was told that due to antiquated and discriminatory guidelines by the FDA to prevent HIV, I am ineligible to donate blood because I’m a gay man.”
This story was originally published June 15, 2020 at 12:53 PM with the headline "Want a COVID-19 antibody test? Donate your blood to Red Cross to help amid shortages."
