I tested positive, had mild symptoms and then tested positive for antibodies. It has been about 10 days since I had any symptoms. I am wanting to donate. What should I be donating and where? I am in Bryan. Thanks.

Gulf coasts operated the blood center in BCS. I believe their donor center is on rock river road.

www.giveblood.org.

You should be able to sign up following the prompts on their web page.

Glad you are well and thanks for giving.

Thanks for the reminder! I give red blood cells and plasma about every two months. Never been Covid positive though, but they always want the combo donation instead of whole blood for me. I'm A+.

where did you get tested for antibodies?

Shagga said:

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Thanks for the reminder! I give red blood cells and plasma about every two months. Never been Covid positive though, but they always want the combo donation instead of whole blood for me. I'm A+.

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I have an appointment Tuesday with Carter Bloodcare. Caught the virus in November and in the hospital tested positive in week 2 for the antibodies (late November), so signed up to give. I think they test for antibodies at the facility before taking your plasma. Happy to share what I learned if anyone is interested.

Muy said:

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I have an appointment Tuesday with Carter Bloodcare. Caught the virus in November and in the hospital tested positive in week 2 for the antibodies (late November), so signed up to give. I think they test for antibodies at the facility before taking your plasma. Happy to share what I learned if anyone is interested.

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Thanks Muy!

We actually test post donation. You'll have 4-5 tubes drawn from a retention bag before the actual donation starts. We send those tubes to our testing facility and test for antibodies along with our other infectious disease and health marker testing.

Results are posted on your donor portal page 3-5 days post donation.

Thanks for signing up and giving.

Fantastic info, thanks! Are you with Carter?

Question: The website didn't seem to have a lot of days available for donating plasma. I booked this Tuesday's appointment about 2 weeks ago. Was I just not searching the calendar right? Kinda surprised me given how much I keep reading about the need for plasma.

Muy said:

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Fantastic info, thanks! Are you with Carter?

Question: The website didn't seem to have a lot of days available for donating plasma. I booked this Tuesday's appointment about 2 weeks ago. Was I just not searching the calendar right? Kinda surprised me given how much I keep reading about the need for plasma.

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Yes.

It's really a perfect storm in regards to collections.

The demand for convalescent plasma far exceeds our current donor base AND our capacity in regards to staff and equipment. We have to collect ccp on the same machines we collect platelets on, which is another high demand product. So we are juggling appointments between them.

ETA: you can shoot me a dm and I'll get you in contact with our donor communication team. They can help make an appointment Behind the scenes as well.

My wife donated plasma last week after having covid in January - she went through the whole process but didn't get her results back til a couple days afterwards that said she was NEGATIVE for antibodies?

Her case wasn't major, but several days of symptoms with complete loss taste/smell plus rapid & PCR positives.

What gives?

Yeah, my wife stays on my ass about plasma as they almost had to throw away a kidney for transplant a couple of weeks ago due to the shortage.

That $20 Uber Eats card was a nice little perk too.

Thanks for keeping with it!

The winter weather really put a hurt on inventory locally and nationally.

Uber was a really cool/new promotion for us. Glad you liked it.

March and April are a free meal at McDonald's. They really donated a ton of meals for two months to support our blood program. Real grateful for it.

So donors eventually test negative for the antibodies. It doesn't mean you are completely absent, just below a threshold to count as positive.

I am one of those. I was sick in July. Tested positive until October. Been negative since then.

Thanks.

Just seems odd being barely a month over the illness

I agree. It seems too early to not show up.

Perhaps it's a false negative?

Worth donating again when eligible. Maybe results will change?