NY COVID-19 survivors help combat the illness

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. – When the coronavirus struck New York, Sandra Weinstein, a congregant at Young Israel of New Rochelle, said she felt like a pariah.

The first cluster of cases in New York state originated from her synagogue before the virus spread across Westchester County and the state.

Now, she and hundreds of synagogue members could become heroes.

Tuesday, Young Israel members began donating blood, so researchers can determine whether they have enough antibodies to fight off COVID-19. If congregants have sufficient antibodies, they can donate plasma several days later that could be used to help treat people sick with the virus.

A truck was parked outside the synagogue Tuesday for blood donations.

Members who tested positive for the coronavirus and have been symptom-free for 14 days are tested to ensure they are negative for the virus. If they’re healthy, the antibody levels in their blood will be studied by medical professionals from Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center.

“Now that I’m out of quarantine … it’s time to save people,” Weinstein, a New Rochelle resident, said.

More than 1,000 congregants were quarantined most of March after a 50year-old synagogue member and New Rochelle resident tested positive for COVID-19 on March 3. About 100 members of the synagogue contracted the virus, leading Gov. Andrew Cuomo to set up a 1-mile containment zone around the synagogue March 12 for two weeks.

Liise-anne Pirofski, chief of Montefiore’s Department of Medicine Division of Infectious Diseases, who is leading the effort, said Young Israel members reached out to the hospital to donate blood. She said the Young Israel cluster is the first cohort of recovered people who can make a difference.

Their plasma would be transferred to at-risk people or infected people as a stopgap measure until a vaccine and new treatments are developed.

The hospital could build a stockpile of plasma to treat patients as the number of cases grows, Pirofski said. Based on outbreaks such as H1N1 and SARS, she’s encouraged this method will help COVID-19 patients.