ATLANTA — The City of Dalton will begin offering COVID antibody treatments at its drive-thru clinic starting Friday.
The monoclonal antibody treatment known as "Regeneron" can be given to COVID patients in their early days of diagnosis-- before day seven of illness so that their symptoms don't worsen, Paramedic and Dalton City Councilmember Annalee Harlan said.
"The purpose of taking monoclonal therapy is to mitigate the escalation of illness with COVID-19 and the entire goal from a population health standpoint, management standpoint, is to lessen the burden on our hospital system," Harlan said.
The drive-thru clinic will be held in the parking lot of the Dalton Convention Center, and the treatment will be offered free of charge. Patients must make an appointment for the treatment before they arrive at the clinic.
Harlan said appointments will not be listed more than 48 hours ahead of time because its goal is to treat people in their earliest days of COVID-19.
The clinic hopes to serve between 60 and 80 patients per day, depending on staffing and resources.
"This is not a replacement for a vaccine; this is a Band-Aid to help get us through to having the majority of our population vaccinated," Harlan said.
Harlan said she also hopes the treatment will provide help for high-risk patients who may have a difficult time developing an immunity to COVID from a vaccine.
"Shortly, we will be working to also booster patients whose immunity may have weakened that were some of our early vaccinated, which are also some of our most vulnerable and elderly population," she said.
As a whole, Harlan said she hopes Dalton can be a model for other communities.
"It's an action and an effort that is necessary, and it's what's needed to in the short-term to mitigate the challenges our health systems and hospitals are having with COVID-19," Harlan said. "If we can stop the escalation of illness, particularly in our most vulnerable of patients, hopefully, we can greatly curb hospitalization."