Florida Medical School Dean to CBN News: COVID-19 Affects Some Blood Types More Than Others

The state of Florida has seen the most dramatic rise in coronavirus cases. Recently, CBN News spoke to a doctor there who says the death rate remains low. He also explained why the virus affects some people more harshly than others.

Doctors say when a person becomes infected with COVID-19 their blood type can make a big difference in how sick they get.

"This is kind of a curious thing, but if you have A+ blood type you probably have about a thirty percent greater chance of ending up in the hospital than if your blood type is O," Dr. Charles Lockwood, dean of the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine in Tampa told CBN News. 

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Young people tend to avoid hospitalization, too, and that's largely who's testing positive, causing the death rate to plummet.

"From at one point, about five percent to about 1 point. As of today, 1.5 percent in the state and in Tampa, in Hillsborough County, it's actually below one percent. It's .09 percent. So that's one of the lowest case fatality rates on the planet, quite literally," Lockwood noted.

School children carry the lowest risk of both acquiring the infection and becoming very ill.

"For the most part I think schools should reopen," Lockwood explained. "There are some areas of the state where I might not be quite as enthusiastic, but for the most part I think we are going to be OK."

Florida hospitals reportedly made it past the peak.

"We know that emergency room visits for COVID-like illnesses and influenza-like illnesses are dropping, and that's the first sign that things may be improving," Lockwood said. 

Doctors now rely on treatments they didn't have before, such as Remdesivir and the affordable Dexamethasone, both scientifically proven to work and readily available. 

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