Antibody infusion center opens in Imperial County to treat COVID-19 patients

(KYMA, KECY) - Health officials launch a center to treat COVID-19 patients and those at high risk of severe illness or hospitalizations.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the El Centro Regional Medical Center (ECRMC) began administering monoclonal antibody treatments on Wednesday to help patients.

HHS says patients will receive one of two treatments authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The treatments have shown to decrease hospitalization rates in people with a higher risk for severe diseases.

“Like many hospitals across the country, El Centro Regional Medical Center is caring for an extremely high number of patients who have developed severe cases of COVID-19,” said Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Dr. Robert Kadlec. “At this infusion center, a federal medical team will be on hand to provide therapeutic treatments that can keep people from becoming so sick that they need to be hospitalized, which will
help reduce the stress on the hospital, particularly the ICU, and help save lives.”

“In our fight against COVID, adding a tool in our toolbox we call therapies to include the infusion center is going to be a win-win for this community,” said Chief Executive Officer of El Centro Regional Medical Center Dr. Adolphe Edward. “We are finally going to be able to actually treat patients at an early stage that might have had COVID and now we can actually see that besides vaccines and therapeutics we are going to win this battle.”