Dr. Terril Spitze missed effective treatment

To the Editor:

I am dumbfounded that Dr. Spitze walked away from the hospital, thinking that he was a doctor and could take care of himself. The coronavirus does not play favorites. Any high-risk patient (Over 65, overweight, COPD, heart disease, diabetes...) needs to do what they can to survive. When first diagnosed with a positive COVID test, these high-risk patients should get monoclonal antibodies against COVID. “BAMLAM” (bamlamivimab) and REGN-COV-2 (casirivimab + imdevimab) both cut the risk of hospitalization by two-thirds, down from 9% to 3%, for these high-risk patients. The monoclonal antibodies bind to spike proteins of the virus, blocking its ability to enter cells and inactivating the virus. There is no other effective treatment for early disease in high-risk patients.

These life-protecting antibodies were given to Donald Trump when he was first sick with COVID. They are available. Adventist Health in Sonora will, hopefully, soon start infusing these monoclonal antibodies, giving patients instant immunity against the COVID virus.

Adventist Health can acquire these monoclonal antibodies at no cost! Our tax dollars have already paid for them. The Indian Health Service has distributed some to local tribal health centers, for their high-risk patients who catch COVID-19, before they get too sick. Given by infusion or by subcutaneous injection, they provide at least a few months of protection.

Regionally, the Dignity Health system has embraced the use of monoclonal antibodies for early COVID infections in high-risk patients. Every high-risk, Covid-positive patient in Dignity Health emergency departments gets their one-time infusion of “Bambam” before they are discharged home. Without monoclonal antibodies, these patients would continue to have more hospitalizations, intubations, and deaths, as happened to Dr. Spitze.

Kenneth Renwick, MD, MPH Tuolumne County Health Officer, 1986-87 Soulsbyville