- April 24, 2024
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Gov. Ron DeSantis announces a new monoclonal antibody treatment site at DSC in Palm Coast. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Michele Kastner and her husband Chuck, right, speak about their successful monoclonal antibody treatment at Gov. DeSantis' news conference Sept. 8 at the DSC Flagler/Palm Coast campus. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Palm Coast real estate agent Amy Young said by the third day after her treatment she felt "like a million bucks." Photo by Brent Woronoff
Michele and Chuck Kastner of Palm Coast traveled to Jacksonville and Ormond Beach last month to receive monoclonal antibody treatment for COVID-19.
They stood with Gov. Ron DeSantis at Daytona State College’s Flagler/Palm Coast campus on Wednesday, Sept. 8, as he announced the opening of a new monoclonal antibody treatment center at the campus.
The site at DSC's Building 3 will be open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., seven days a week. The Regeneron treatment is free, and patients won’t need a prescription, DeSantis said.
With the Palm Coast site and another in Sebring, the state now has 25 monoclonal treatment centers.
“The goal is to have very easy access for a vast majority of the people in Florida,” DeSantis said. “At the end of the day, the message is COVID is a treatable disease.”
The Kastners and Palm Coast real estate agent Amy Young spoke about how monoclonal antibody treatment got them back on their feet within a couple of days after suffering severe COVID symptoms.
The Kastners had both been vaccinated. Chuck tested positive on a Saturday. On Monday, Michele tested positive.
“I had a severe headache and body aches,” Michele said. “Chuck had a fever, heavy congestion, body aches and loss of smell and taste.”
Friend Lydia Ankrom had them make an appointment for Chuck for monoclonal antibody infusion treatment in Jacksonville. Michele was treated two days later.
“I was really scared,” Chuck said. "I have two children and my beautiful wife, so I was scared."
They said they both felt better within 36 hours of the treatment.
“Michele is my (child’s) nanny,” Ankrom said. “They didn’t know anything about (the treatment). About five weeks ago you couldn’t get infusion (treatment) anywhere. I was lucky. I got COVID and I was a patient at the Mayo Clinic, so I was able to get it there.”
Young said she is a cancer survivor and has rheumatoid arthritis, but her COVID symptoms were like nothing she had ever experienced. She said sh had 105-degree temperature and could barely breathe.
“The night before I went to get Regeneron (injection) treatment, I seriously considered calling 911,” she said.
She got the series of four shots and within a couple of hours her body aches had subsided, she said.
“By the third day,” she said, “I felt like a million bucks.”
“At the end of the day, the message is COVID is a treatable disease.”
GOV. RON DESANTIS
DeSantis said the state-run treatment centers were nearing 70,000 treatments since they opened.
He said the Palm Coast site will be able to treat 300 patients a day.
“Since we've started these sites, we've seen daily admissions to hospitals for COVID decline dramatically,” DeSantis said. “We've seen the COVID hospital census statewide decline significantly. That’s not happening if not for monoclonal antibody treatment.”
AdventHealth Central Florida division announced it was transitioning down to yellow status after seeing a gradual decline in COVID patients since its peak of 1,700 on Aug. 23 in the seven-county area.
“Some people would be headed straight to ICU if they didn’t get this treatment,” DeSantis said.
