The American Red Cross of Central Ohio is calling on our area's minority groups to Donate Blood.
The Red Cross says there is increased demand among the African-American, Asian and Hispanic communities and it only takes an hour of your time to give a pint.
There's also a tremendous need for convalescent plasma. That's the yellow liquid removed from the blood of a person who has already recovered from COVID-19.
Plasma is rich with antibodies. It's emerged as one of a trio of therapies — that appear to help hospitalized patients.
“If you don't know that you've had COVID-19 you can start by donating blood you get the results of your antibodies test and if you test positive you can work with the red cross to see if you would be a good candidate to become a plasma donor,” Rodney Wilson said.
The existing research on convalescent plasma suggests that units with a higher level of antibodies work better to fight infections, so the FDA will now require blood banks to test and classify plasma units by high or low antibody counts.
Doctors will still be able to give their patients convalescent plasma regardless of whether donated plasma is high or low.
Learn more about donating here: Red Cross Blood Donation.