Blood Plasma Therapy To Treat Coronavirus

Nephrologist Dr. Za Choudhry gets approval by the doctor’s committee in Aruba to start an “Aruba-COVID Study” to treat critically ill patients in the hospital affected by coronavirus.

Aruba-COVID study is an investigation to use blood plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients. The research is based on the successful treatment using blood plasma of recovered patients of diseases in the past, including Spanish flu, MERS and SARS. 

The question is, will the same therapy work on coronavirus patients?

Hopefully the blood plasma from recovered patients that contain antibodies that can help sick patients recuperate or boost immunity for those at high risk of contracting coronavirus. 

Aruba is the first island in the Caribbean to start investigating blood plasma to treat coronavirus patients. Several other countries around the world are also investigating the use of blood plasma therapy, including China, Switzerland, Netherlands and the United States. 

The blood plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients may contain antibodies that can help sick patients recuperate. After a patient successfully recovers from coronavirus, the blood contains antibodies that help fight off the disease. 

The study needs to prove that this blood plasma is effective in treating coronavirus in critically ill patients. 

Hospital in Aruba.

Hospital Expands ICU Rooms

The Netherlands transported 12 extra ICU beds, ventilators and medical supplies to Aruba, and other islands in the Caribbean, including Curacao, St.Maarten and Bonaire. 

According to the Health Minister, the hospital had only 6 beds in the ICU, however, they managed to expand this to 21 beds on their own, and have now received 12 extra beds, expanding the ICU rooms to 33 beds.

Testing is the Strategy in Aruba

The current strategy in Aruba is to test as many people as possible who could potentially be carrying the virus in order to mitigate and stop the spread.

Dr. Choudhry says “a low threshold of case finding (for instance screening asymptomatic individuals in the first ring of contact with patients, despite symptoms) could be a potential strategy to prevent more local transmissions in Aruba and can help flatten the curve”.

Patients Are Recuperating

The good news is that 30% of the patients who were diagnosed with Coronavirus in Aruba recuperated. 

This week is the first time Aruba has noted more people recuperating from Coronavirus compared to people testing positive for the disease.

At first 1 person recovered, the first patient who tested positive. After that the number continued to increase to 27 recovered patients. Medical experts are expecting the recovery rate to continue to increase in the upcoming days.

The Latest Coronavirus Statistics (April 12, 2020)

• Active Positive Case – 60
• Negative Test Results – 1053
• Recuperated – 32
• Deaths – 0

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Flights For Stranded Tourist in ABC Islands

There are hundreds of stranded travelers in Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao. 

They are stuck on one of these islands after travel restrictions stopped them from boarding flights and going back home.

The government in Aruba announced that Spirit Airlines has an additional humanitarian flight service to help stranded travelers on the ABC islands to return safely home to the United States.

Spirit Airlines has a scheduled flight on April 15, 2020.

The flight is scheduled to depart from Aruba’s airport (Reina Beatrix). However, travelers stranded on Bonaire & Curacao need to fly to Aruba first with Divi Divi airlines. 

Stranded travelers need to contact the United States consulate on the respective island for additional information. 

Spirit Airlines will depart from Aruba and pick up fellow American travelers in Cartagena Colombia before landing in Fort Lauderdale.

Use Skyscanner App To Find Cheap Flights – Download on iPhone or Android.

When Will Tourism in Aruba Recover

According to the previous president of Aruba Hotel And Hotel Association, Jim Hepple,  it’s difficult to exactly pinpoint when tourism in Aruba will return to normal. 

Compared to prior crises like 9/11, the recession in 2008 and the Nathalee Holloway scandal, it took the island approximately 3 years to recuperate its tourism.

Airlines scheduled their flights in May, but it’s not likely that these flights will continue. Tourism officials in Aruba are expecting flights to slowly pick up in June or July. It can even take up to 10 months, if additional travel restrictions are applied. 

The United States is Aruba’s primary travel market – when tourism will return to normal in Aruba depends on the coronavirus developments in America. 

Tourism in Aruba went from hundreds of thousand travelers a month to zero in a matter of no time. 

Let’s hope travel returns to normal as soon as possible. 

Carnival Cruise Lines published an article that they are intending to start cruising again in May, while other cruise ships are projected to restart service again later this year. 

Carnival Horizon plans to depart on May 16, 2020 from homeport Miami for an 8 day trip toward Aruba, Bonaire, La Romana and Amber Cove.

Aruba COVID-19 Survey

Everyone has been affected by the coronavirus in some way and we are all trying to rebuild and redesign our lives for the future. 

There’s a survey online that you can take that can help our partners at ArubaOnline.news to understand how you have been affected by COVID-19 and how they can help you move forward. 

If you are interested, click here to start the survey – it only takes less than 3 minutes. 

Two Ways To Stress Less

Let’s face it, during crisis times, everyone is stressed and scared. 

But the best thing to do is to remain calm, no matter how hard the world is crashing around us. Staying calm keeps us healthy and available to lend a helping hand to those in need. 

Our partners at Kay’s Fine Jewelry have developed two great offers to help you stress less:

1. Necklace that is designed to help you stress less
2. bracelet manufactured by Philip Stein that gives you a good night’s sleep. 

Find out more about how you can destress and stay positive with their offer – read more details here – Destress & Stay Positive and Sunny.

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