The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the El Centro Regional Medical Center have started a pilot program to treat certain COVID-19 patients.

Medical professionals from the National Disaster Medical System are administering monoclonal antibody therapeutic treatments in order to prevent hospitalizations and decrease the severity of illness.

The antibodies being used are man-made and produced in a laboratory the can mimic the human immune system’s response to infection.

Click here for more on the antibodies being used

Treatments are being administered at a temporary COVID-19 infusion center through an IV and takes approximately two-and-a-half hours.

Patients who have tested positive for coronavirus and are at high risk of severe illness or hospitalization will be the ones treated.

“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.”

Press conference below for more on this program:

The information in this article comes from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

COVID-19 Treatment Pilot Program Makes Way to El Centro, Uses Antibodies