Coronavirus Diary Day 6: How recovered patients could battle the virus

Long Island mom Diana Berrent, 45, has been taking The Post on her journey since she tested positive for the coronavirus last week. Today, she discusses her efforts to form a “Survivor Corps” of recovered patients who could help fight and defeat the virus.

I ended yesterday’s post about gratitude with a bit of a cliffhanger in my promise to pay it forward. So, I want to tell you exactly what I’ve been up to and what I have in store.

When I’m fully recovered I’ll be making lasagnas by the frozen tray full to bring over to my many friends and neighbors who have since been stricken with COVID-19. I will help out in any way I can, although I can assure you a recording of my singing is about the last thing that would bring joy to anyone, sick or healthy!

When I found out that I was positive for COVID-19, I posted on Facebook that I was indeed infected with the virus, but that on the plus side, hopefully, it would bring me some degree of immunity and I, and other survivors, can become superheroes in our community. We could create a Survivor Corps — the Peace Corps of our generation.

Let me explain what a Survivor Corps could look like: an opt-in database of COVID-19 survivors that could be accessed to facilitate and expedite the recruitment of survivors to donate blood and plasma. There are many research facilities who are desperate for volunteers and this would connect researchers and doctors to survivors quickly and efficiently, ultimately saving the lives of those hit hardest by this potentially deadly virus.

Once an antibody test is released and if suspicions of immunity are confirmed, the possibilities become endless. Survivor Corps Superheroes (c’mon, think about putting that title on your resume!) could volunteer on the front lines, in hospitals and elsewhere, without creating a drain on the dire and pathetic lack of protective gear provided to our medical workers. We could visit the elderly who have been in isolation for so long; we could bring them groceries without fear of infecting others. But here’s the really big part… we could go back to work.

Today’s news is all about a binary choice we have as a society: we can save either our economy or our lives. Survivor Corps offers an off-ramp to this question. It offers a third option: as the antibody tests are released and the science of immunity is brought to certainty, we Survivor Corps Superheroes can go back to work.

There is an untold number of survivors sheltering in place right now. Let them go back to work as they are cleared so we can get our economy up and going again, even if it has to happen in ramped up phases. At the same time, the most vulnerable among us, or anyone who has not yet been exposed to the virus, can remain at home sheltering in place. To choose between our economy and lives is a false paradigm; the Survivor Corps could ensure we protect both.

I created an open group on Facebook called Survivor Corps. It is open to everyone and it is where announcements will be made as the infrastructure is created and rolled out. In the first 12 hours, overnight, the group amassed its first thousand members and by this morning, there were already doctors connecting directly with survivors with pleas for blood and plasma. It goes without saying that I hope to be the first on all of those lists!

There came a responsibility with being the first in my area to contract COVID-19 and, similarly, there remains a responsibility that comes with being the first survivor. As one new group member beautifully stated this morning, “Survivor Corps can turn New York into the epicenter of HOPE.” What a beautiful goal. Go join now. We have no time to lose.