People infected with COVID-19 were captured in a photo this week lying on the floor in pain while waiting for antibody infusions at a treatment site set up inside the library in Jacksonville, Fla.
The image has become a vivid illustration of the huge demand for the once-neglected COVID-19 drugs in the states hit hardest by a summer surge of infections being driven by the highly contagious delta variant.
“They were moaning and obviously in a lot of pain. They were miserable,” said Louie Lopez, who shot the photograph as he waited for more than two hours to receive the treatment.
Antibody treatments remain one of a handful of therapies that can blunt the worst effects of COVID-19, and they are the only option available to people with mild-to-moderate cases who aren’t yet in the hospital.
They have risen in demand in states seeing a spike in infections, including Florida, Louisiana and Texas, where hospitalizations among the unvaccinated are overwhelming the health care system.
White House officials reported that federal shipments of the drugs increased five-fold last month to nearly 110,000 doses, with the vast majority going to states with low vaccination rates.
“They are safe, they are free, they keep people out of the hospital and help keep them alive,” said Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, a senior adviser to the White House’s COVID-19 response team.
The main drug in use is Regeneron’s dual-antibody cocktail, which has been purchased in mass quantities by the U.S. government. It’s the same drug former President Donald Trump received when he was hospitalized with COVID-19 last October.
The drugs are laboratory-made versions of virus-blocking antibodies that help fight infections. The treatments help the patient by supplying concentrated doses of one or two antibodies.
The drugs are only recommended for people at the highest risk of progressing to severe COVID-19, but regulators have slowly broadened who can qualify. The list of conditions now includes older age, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, pregnancy and more than a half-dozen other issues.
With expanded eligibility and skyrocketing caseloads across the country, more people are getting the treatments.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who this week tested positive for the virus and is himself receiving the treatments, said five state-run COVID-19 antibody infusion centers opened last week and that another four would open by Monday. In Florida, where more than 20,000 people a day on average are testing positive for the virus, the rising demand created a scene at the Jacksonville center that resembled an overwhelmed emergency room.
At one point, Lopez said staff brought out paper hospital gowns and covered a woman on the floor. It took more than half an hour for staff to bring out enough wheelchairs for people to sit in.
“They poured them into the wheelchairs,” he said. “They were just so sick.”
