I have been studying the creation of monoclonal antibody treatment centers in Florida. My initial response was that this was a great idea; that it would be able to reach citizens with early-stage disease and prevent hospitalization.
However, the more I looked at the actual data and read comments from the physicians running these clinics, the more I began to doubt the value. Eventually I have concluded that the downsides to these centers actually outweigh the upsides. This may sound counterintuitive, but resources, timing and treatments need to be quite targeted as this virus spreads.
Please understand, that my comments below are not meant to be political. We need to analyze any efforts and try to maximize our responses.
Too many people are relying on internet information to inform their health decisions. We still are fighting the misinformation on hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, even with overwhelming evidence that both are more harmful than helpful. We would be making a tremendous mistake if we give people a false sense of security that if they stay unvaccinated and then develop disease, that they could simply show up at a treatment center and walk away cured. This is simply too dangerous for us to ignore.
TREATMENT CENTERS IN FLORIDA
With a shortage of doctors and nurses in Florida, Gov. DeSantis has opened 18 sites for monoclonal antibody treatments. There is nothing special about these centers as the exact same treatment is available in hospitals. However, each of these sites needs both doctors and nurses, thus exacerbating the shortages in hospitals for treating patients.
But it is critical to understand that these monoclonal antibody treatments are effective ONLY in the EARLY stages of infection. Once severe symptoms emerge, it is too late to treat with these antibodies. Physicians at these treatment centers are reporting that people coming in have often been showing symptoms for over a full week, and therefore are not real candidates for this treatment.
Since August 12, the 18 sites have treated, on average 30 people per day, for a total of 10,000 people. Assume that each treatment center needs 2 doctors and 3 nurses on staff, and a treatment time of 2 hours per infusion. These same nurses could have treated 20 times as many patients over 24 hours at a hospital, so these treatment centers are far, far less efficient in staffing than hospitals which can provide the identical treatments as well as other, more appropriate treatments for these patients.
In my opinion it would have been far more effective to fund sites WITHIN hospital settings so that the people could be triaged for the specifically targeted treatments. Self-diagnosis and self-determination of treatment protocols will never be effective and will only aggravate the spread of disease.
Unlike in hospitals where multiple versions of the monoclonal antibody cocktails are available, the ONLY monoclonal antibody preparation available at the DeSantis Treatment Centers is the Regeneron preparation. Is that in any way related to the profits earned by DeSantis’s largest donor?
During the same period, over 350,000 people tested positive for COVID-19 in Florida and there have been, on average, over 25,000 people hospitalized each day.