Organ Donation and COVID-19
Hey everyone! I hope you are all staying safe and healthy during this time. It's definitely been a crazy past few weeks, but I hope this will all pass soon. Anyway, let's get right into it.
Warnings about COVID-19 from the American Society of Transplantation
In the wake of the rapidly spreading new strain of coronavirus, COVID-19, experts urge transplant recipients to use extra caution to protect themselves and their loved ones!
The virus, first detected last year, is particularly dangerous to the elderly and those with compromised immune systems, and many organ transplant recipients fall under that latter category. There is no direct information about whether COVID-19 infection is more likely in transplant recipients compared with healthy people, but it is important to take precautions, said Dr. Michael Hagan, patient safety officer at Gift of Life Michigan.
“They just have to be more careful,” said Hagan, a former ER doctor who is also a liver recipient. “We are at a higher risk, theoretically, because of our compromised immune systems.”
National Kidney Month!
The Swartz Creek View wrote a great article on how March and April (National Kidney Month and Donate Life Month) are very important to the organ donation community–please check out the article below, it's very well-written!
That's it for this month! Thank you so much for reading, and stay safe during this pandemic! See you next month.
