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  • 2020-03-13 (xsd:date)
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  • Can You Get a Free Coronavirus Test by Donating Blood? (en)
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  • EDITORS' NOTE: The American Red Cross announced that as of June 15, 2020, all donors will have their blood tested for COVID-19 antibodies to determine whether they may have had previous exposure to the coronavirus. There is no charge for the testing, which is being conducted as a public service. The Red Cross emphasizes that this is not a diagnostic test for COVID-19 and does not confirm either infection or immunity. People who are feeling ill for any reason should not present themselves for blood donations. Other blood donation centers around the U.S., including OneBlood and Vitalant, have also announced they are testing donor samples for COVID-19 antibodies. In early March 2020, as the availability and cost of testing members of the public for the COVID-19 coronavirus disease sweeping the globe was a hot issue, a widely-shared tweet offered a supposed loophole for obtaining such testing for free. Just volunteer to donate blood, it asserted, and the agency taking your donation would have to test you for free: However, it was not the case at that time that all blood banks were performing coronavirus tests on donors — as news reports have noted, blood donation centers do not have test kits on hand to check for the coronavirus. Moreover, as the American Red Cross declared in a statement, conducting such tests on donors is unnecessary because there is no data or evidence that COVID-19 can be transmitted by blood transfusion, and there have been no reported cases of transmissions for any respiratory virus, including this coronavirus, worldwide. The Associated Press likewise reported of the subject that: However, organizations such as the American Red Cross do advise that people should not donate blood now if they know or suspect they have been exposed to the coronavirus: The American Red Cross does advise that, Right now, eligible and healthy donors are strongly urged to make an appointment to prevent shortages. As noted at the top of this article, the American Red Cross and other blood donation centers began conducting routine COVID-19 antibody tests on donors' blood as a public service, but this is not the same as diagnostic testing and will not determine if an individual is infected with COVID-19. (en)
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