CRH to continue blood plasma treatment for COVID-19

Columbus Regional Health’s role in an experimental blood treatment program for COVID-19 will continue.

That comes after President Trump touted the use of convalescent plasma for treating coronavirus patients Sunday evening and rolled back an FDA announcement to stop the emergency use of the blood product.

Last week, the FDA paused the emergency use of blood plasma as a treatment for COVID-19. The treatment uses plasma from the blood of patients who have recovered from COVID-19 to treat people who are ill.

Kelsey DeClue, spokeswoman for CRH, said last week that CRH’s program would continue, as it is part of an experimental, rather than emergency, use of the plasma.

The hospital announced in April that it had partnered with the Mayo Clinic and national blood research institute Versiti for a trial of the infusions.

Declue said CRH feels fortunate to be able to take part in the trials.

DeClue said the key is to remember that the therapy is still experimental.

National health officials last week said that there’s no proof the therapy works. However, President Trump said yesterday that studies of the treatment show that it reduced the COVID-19 death rate by 35-percent. DeClue said that CRH is seeing some very encouraging positive results from the trials so far.