Make a Difference During the Coronavirus Pandemic

The COVID-19 disease pandemic has created challenges in our everyday lives. As we each do our part to help slow the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, we look to the helpers all around us and wonder if we, too, could do more.

Here are some ways you and your family can help, said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on April 10, 2020.

Protect Yourself and Others From Coronavirus

• Because COVID-19 has never been seen in humans before, there are currently no vaccines to prevent or drugs to treat COVID-19 approved by the FDA
• The best way to prevent illness is to avoid being exposed to this virus
• How? Stay home as much as possible
• And, avoid close contact with people, even if they don’t appear sick. Some people without symptoms may be able to spread the coronavirus

Donate Blood 

• Another way to make a difference is to donate blood if you are able. The U.S. blood supply is facing unprecedented challenges and shortages 
• Donor centers have experienced a dramatic reduction in donations because of social distancing and canceled blood drives
• If you are healthy and feel well, contact a local donation center to make an appointment
•  Donation centers are taking steps to make sure donation is safe

If You Have Fully Recovered From COVID-19, Donate Plasma

• People who have fully recovered from COVID-19 disease are encouraged to consider donating plasma, which could potentially help save the lives of other COVID-19 patients
• COVID-19 patients develop antibodies, which are proteins that might help fight the infection
• COVID-19 convalescent plasma must only be collected from recovered individuals if they are eligible to donate blood
  • For example, they must have fully recovered from COVID-19, with complete resolution of symptoms for at least 28 days before donating convalescent plasma, or complete resolutions of symptoms at least 14 days prior to donation plus negative results for COVID-19 either from one or more nasal swab specimens or by a specific diagnostic blood test.

Report Fraudulent Coronavirus Tests, Vaccines, and Treatments

• Some people and companies are marketing products with fraudulent COVID-19 diagnostic, prevention, and treatment claims
• Fraudulent COVID-19 products can come in many varieties, including dietary supplements and other foods, as well as products claiming to be tests, drugs, other medical devices, or vaccines
• Remember, currently there are no vaccines to prevent or medicines to treat COVID-19 approved by the FDA

Save Personal Protective Equipment for Those Who Need Them

• Don’t buy or stock up on personal protective equipment such as surgical masks and N95 respirators
• Surgical masks and N95s should be reserved for use by health care workers, first responders, and other frontline workers whose jobs put them at much greater risk of being infected with COVID-19
• CDC recommends wearing cloth face coverings – not surgical masks or N95 respirators – in public when other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain (for example, at grocery stores and pharmacies) especially in areas of significant community-based transmission of the coronavirus
• Wearing cloth face coverings in public may help slow the spread of the virus and help keep people who may have the virus and do not know it from transmitting it to others

COVID-19 disease pandemic news published by Coronavirus Today.