Viral Photo Of Florida Woman On Floor Of Monoclonal Treatment Site Illustrates Huge Demand For COVID Antibody Drugs

JACKSONVILLE (CBSMiami/AP) — A photograph of radical laying down connected the level successful symptom portion waiting for monoclonal antibody infusions astatine a Jacksonville attraction tract is going viral for its vivid illustration of the immense request for COVID-19 drugs.

“They were moaning and evidently successful a batch of pain. They were miserable,” said Louie Lopez, who changeable the photograph arsenic helium waited for much than 2 hours to person the treatment.

READ MORE: What Is Regeneron COVID-19 Monoclonal Antibody Treatment?

Toma Dean, the pistillate successful the photograph successful the yellowish formal said she’d been suffering with COVID and pneumonia for 2 weeks and that she’d been successful and retired of exigency rooms. In the photo, different sick pistillate laying down close down her.

One time aft the representation was taken, the Florida pistillate said erstwhile her 16-year-old lad took her to the room for attraction connected Wednesday, she could hardly stand.

“I was bad. Very atrocious shape. Lightheaded. Dizzy. Shortness of breath,” she said. “I couldn’t basal astatine all.”

Dean said she had conscionable near the hospital, wherever an exigency country doc advised her to get the monoclonal antibody treatment. With her lad by her broadside and not a wheelchair successful sight, Dean said she archetypal sat, past laid connected the floor.

“I was truthful sick it didn’t adjacent matter,” Dean said. “I conscionable thought I could roll. I conscionable wanted to get to therapy due to the fact that I thought I’m either going to dice — beryllium hospitalized, die, oregon I’m going to marque it done those doors.”

Dean said the unit astatine the room was excellent, and they scrambled to get wheelchairs to the library. The attraction itself was quick, and Dean said she felt amended already.

She said she was not vaccinated for COVID owed to an underlying wellness information that prevented it.

“If you person it, I counsel you to spell get this therapy, spell instrumentality vantage of the resources retired there. Get vaccinated. It whitethorn not beryllium the archetypal happening that you privation to do, but it’s amended than the extremity result,” Dean said.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said during a quality league Friday that the pistillate successful the photograph is good and feeling large aft the treatment.

“None of our sites are having a capableness issue,” said Weesam Khoury, spokesperson for the Florida Department of Health. “We person the resources and if we request much we tin rapidly get them.”

But she cautioned, “This is simply a tract wherever radical are going to beryllium precise ill.”

That’s wherefore authorities wellness officials are urging patients who trial affirmative for COVID to get the antibody attraction instantly alternatively of waiting until they are highly sick, which galore patients are doing.

READ MORE: AP: Top Donor Of Gov. Ron DeSantis Is Regeneron Investor

Florida implicit the past week has acceptable up astir a twelve monoclonal antibody clinics typically serving 300 patients per time including a determination astatine C.B. Smith Park successful Pembroke Pines and a determination opening connected Saturday astatine Tropical Park successful Southwest Miami-Dade.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said helium plans to person astatine slightest 21 locations unfastened by adjacent week. There is an online portal for appointments.

Monoclonal antibodies tin lessen the worst effects of COVID-19. The antibody treatments person risen successful request successful respective states, including Florida, wherever officials person refused to enforce disguise mandates and wellness attraction workers are struggling to curb hospitalizations among the unvaccinated.

After the representation of Dean went viral, changes were made astatine the attraction center. The metropolis added much wheelchairs, seating, and much ways for patients to alert idiosyncratic if they request help. Workers astatine the tract accidental you consciousness excessively sick, you request to spell to the hospital.

The attraction is for radical successful the aboriginal stages of COVID-19 with mild-to-moderate symptoms.

The main cause successful usage is Regeneron’s dual-antibody cocktail, which has been purchased successful wide quantities by the U.S. government.

The drugs are laboratory-made versions of virus-blocking antibodies that assistance combat disconnected infections.

The drugs are lone recommended for radical astatine the highest hazard of progressing to terrible COVID-19, but regulators person dilatory broadened who tin qualify. The database of conditions present includes older age, obesity, diabetes, bosom disease, gestation and much than a half-dozen different issues.

Getting the drugs involves respective steps.

A affirmative trial for COVID-19 is required, which indispensable beryllium reviewed by a doc oregon wellness professional. They past determine whether to urge an antibody attraction for the patient, which usually means scheduling an assignment astatine a section medication site.

To beryllium effective, the drugs are expected to beryllium fixed wrong 10 days of archetypal symptoms. That’s the timeframe successful which they person been shown to chopped rates of hospitalization and decease by astir 70%.

Medical experts agreed that the drugs should not beryllium seen arsenic the archetypal enactment of defence against the microorganism oregon a substitute for wearing a disguise and getting vaccinated.

The treatments are free.

MORE NEWS: Regeneron Monoclonal Antibody Clinic Opens At Broward Health’s Salah Foundation Children’s Hospital

(© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press and WJXT via CNN contributed to this report.)