the most accurate test is easy as well

[ohiofarmer 3,156]

I needed a coronavirus test early in the game, in late March.Whatever I had, it was not easy to recover from  The promises made by our state on testing never materialized then, so we just soldiered through and got pretty sick, but just as in war, the plans and announcements by the leaders do not always pan out. Now they are pushing tests on everyone, but i learned a better way to take a test that could have added benefits to your neighbor as well.

 

   Give Blood.

 

 My niece is a physician, and when she gave blood she also discovered that she is a recovered virus victim but remained symptom free. The blood bank notified her of the results. Besides the obvious benefit to society of giving blood, the blood bank will be interested in plasma donation by recovered people to treat other victims of the disease..  I am a person whose nose bleeds rather easily due to blood vessels very close to the surface and also a broken nose injury. Been that way all my life. jamming a stick way up there probably not a great idea for me.

 

 The blood bank takes things seriously and they use the most reliable testing there is. My niece the doctor told me this. I am telling you guys about it because we are a little community of people and it is probably something to keep in a pretty small venue. Gonna go give blood today, so I will let you know how it goes.

 

EDIT. i was wrong about the testing, so i apologize. look down a few posts for a full explanations......Also sorry about jumping the gun and jumping to conclusions.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 11, 2020 by ohiofarmer

[stevasaurus 22,229]

An excellent idea.   

[CCW 1,201]

Was thinking about giving blood anyway.  This just pushes me a bit more.

Thanks.

 

[ohiofarmer 3,156]

 I promised i would tell you how it went, but now am embarrassed.   It turns out that the reason my niece's blood was examined is that doctors must have a higher standard of care when they give blood. I specifically told them during the battery of questions that i wanted to be tested, but the people there informed me that they were not testing for covid in the blood supply because they did not think it was transmitted by blood.

  They do other tests to keep us safe, If the blood you give shows the wrong markers, you will be removed from the donating supply. I guess it is time to get a swab shoved up way beyond my comfort zone. i apologize for thinking the standard of care my niece got applies to us everyday people.

 At least i found out that i can give blood again after surviving a disqualifying disease from ten years past.

[Racinbob 10,259]

No reason to be embarrassed at all. It made perfect sense to me. I was a regular donor prior to our move to Florida in 2000. I haven't since but have been thinking about it. Being O- they like my blood and it's a good thing to do. I really liked the idea of a covid test to go along with donating so I was ready to go. It's a bummer that they don't test for that but I'm not going to let that stop me. So, you did good by getting my mind back on it. It's on my list this coming week. 

[stevasaurus 22,229]

I agree with Bob above.  Thank you for clearing that up though.  I am going to mark report as complete.    I'm a regular donor also.

[Pullstart 59,555]

My wife and I are going to get tested tomorrow.  We have a travel planned but now a negative result is required pre-trip.  We have a video conference with the doc at 9am tomorrow, 10 am drive through test.  
 

I am RO blood type, a very rare donor percentage.  I have my next year and a half scheduled out and always do double red blood cells.  I donate twice as much of what they really need, but go half as often as a regular donor.  It does a guy a good feeling to know how much his blood might help a total stranger... but then when my sister in-law delivered a baby in November and required a whopping 33 units of blood to survive, along with platelets from another hospital, it made me almost get in in a fight with the local blood drive staff when they said I wasn’t yet eligible to donate!  That’s when I learned that my new found double reds donation made me have to wait twice as long to donate 

[ohiofarmer 3,156]

 

Update!!  Now, at least where I live, the Red Cross will be testing blood as I thought that they should have been doing before . It may be that they might need plasma donors to help out sick people as has been reported a few months ago.   CHECK WITH THEM before you give blood if that is important to you. i should be able to give again this month and will fill you guys in once i participate and  know for sure.

  There has been a problem with getting accurate tests because the CDC was trying to manufacture their own tests as that's the way it has always been done, and no way to keep up with the demand.  Now private companies are going to be involved so hopefully will be able to keep up with demand. In any case, it makes me feel safer that they will be testing the blood itself after the only test i got last time was taking my temperature. Just common sense,really.