President Trump
Donald John Trump Trump campaign cancels purchase of ads to review messaging strategy: Nunes report declines to respond if it received information from Ukraine lawmaker meant to harm Biden poll: plurality of ‘Generation Z’ voters says who see more Trump political announcements than Biden MORE On Thursday, he joined public health officials in encouraging Americans who have recovered from COVID-19 to donate their convalescent blood plasma to be used as a possible treatment for the virus.
“If you have had the virus, if you donate it it would be an excellent thing,” Trump said during a visit to the American Red Cross headquarters. “We really need plasma donations. For those who have had the virus: they have gotten over it, and I guess that means they have something very special there.”
Convalescent plasma is being studied as a possible treatment for COVID-19. Those who have had the virus and have recovered develop antibodies against the virus in the blood, which could be used to treat those who are still fighting the disease.
“We have seen this to be a safe treatment and we are encouraged by the promising first data we have seen,” said Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Stephen Hahn during a panel discussion on the coronavirus.
Each participant in the round table encouraged Americans to donate plasma. Gail McGovern, CEO of the American Red Cross, said demand for convalescent plasma is outstripping supply at the organization’s blood banks.
Trump walked the Red Cross headquarters in front of the round table, wearing a mask as he did so. He briefly saw a man who had recovered from the virus by donating plasma.
Thursday’s visit to the Red Cross marked the second event this week that Trump held to highlight progress on possible treatments for the coronavirus. He traveled to North Carolina on Monday to promote progress in vaccine development.
There have been 4.4 million coronavirus cases in the United States, the most reported cases of any country in the world, and more than 150,000 people in the country have died from the virus.
.
