Good Question: Is COVID affecting transplants?

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC)—The need is always there. Some 10,000 New Yorkers are on the list waiting for life-saving organ transplants.

Hundreds die each year because an organ doesn’t arrive on time. A viewer named June had a question about that process and the pandemic. June asked News10NBC’s Brennan Somers: Are the organs from donors who passed away from COVID considered unusable?

Somers got this response from the Finger Lakes Donor Recovery Network:

"The CDC guideline that Finger Lakes Donor Recovery Network and all federally designated organ procurement organizations follow is that individuals who test positive for COVID-19 will be medically ineligible for organ donation. It’s important for the public to know, however, that this in no way impacts one’s ability to register as an organ, eye and tissue donor. In New York State, anyone 16 years of age or older – regardless of current, past of future medical conditions – can join the New York State Donate Life Registry. Registering as a donor gives your consent to donate, while decisions about what organs are healthy enough to be donated are made by medical professionals at the time of someone’s death."

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