Military health system Tricare incorrectly tells 600,000 people they had COVID

About 600,000 beneficiaries of military health system Tricare were told earlier this month that they had recovered from coronavirus and were asked to donate their blood.

Problem is, not all of them had COVID.

Though only about 31,000 people linked to the U.S. military have been diagnosed with the potentially lethal disease, the email was sent to every beneficiary near a convalescent plasma collection point, Military.com reported last Wednesday.

“In an attempt to educate beneficiaries who live close to convalescent plasma donation centers about collection opportunities, you received an email incorrectly suggesting you were a COVID-19 survivor,” Humana Military emailed recipients hours later. “You have not been identified as a COVID-19 survivor and we apologize for the error and any confusion it may have caused.”

The original email was startling, saying that “as a survivor of COVID-19, it’s safe to donate whole blood or blood plasma, and your donation could help other COVID-19 patients.”

The blunder acknowledged that at the moment “there is no cure” for the potentially lethal disease, adding, “However, there is information that suggests plasma from COVID-19 survivors, like you, might help some patients recover more quickly from COVID-19.”

Marvin Hill, a Corporate Communications Lead and National Public Relations Manager at Humana, said in a statement to the Daily News that the email had not been sent “based on any medical information or diagnosis” but by one’s proximity to a plasma collection facility.

Humana, he noted, had been asked to assist its partner, the Defense Health Agency “to educate Military beneficiaries” about the opportunity for survivors to donate.

Back in May, the Defense Department said it intended to collect 8,000 plasma units from coronavirus survivors by the end of September in an effort to study how effective the method could be against the disease. Earlier this month, the DoD said it now intended to collect 10,000.

As of last week, over 4,600 units had been collected.

Those who wish to donate at one of the military’s 15 donation centers have to be at least 17 years old, weigh at least 110 lbs, have a previous diagnosis of the virus, have no COVID-19 symptoms for 14 days, and be in good health.

Over 35,000 U.S. coronavirus patients have been given convalescent plasma, which the Food and Drug Administration approved in March as an investigational therapy.

It’s not proven that the method works but there have been “encouraging reports ... that in fact convalescent plasma may be helpful,” said Dr. Janet Woodcock, who directs the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.