You do not, at least at the Red Cross. I donated on Wednesday, and the info sheet told me they were not screening for the coronavirus, so you shouldn’t donate as a way to get a free test.
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You can’t get a free test? Shopping center near me is running tests. I just have to rock up, say I have a bit of a cold, and they will test me for free. I did a it a month ago.
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Actually, some bone marrow recipients post cancer treatment will change to the donor blood type. But I wouldn’t recommend rolling around in cancer to protect yourself from Covid.
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AB+ midge magnet here, who gets huge welts. My Type I diabetic mate never got bit as his blood/sweat is too acidic for the little sods. I could smoke & eat raw garlic and they’d still go for me. Do donate blood occasionally here in UK but all they do is spin it for plasma anyone can use in an emergency as I’m a Universal Recipient and can only donate to fellow freaks, vampires & werewolves.
Waiting for peer review/WHO announcement though. As The Knack sang, “Ma ma ma ma ma Miiiiind The Rona!”
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Well, they do say type A is the universal acceptor.
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I live in a state that literally never went on actual lockdown. Our governor only issued guidance about ‘safer at home.’
My speculation that donating blood could get you tested has been refuted. It seems wildly irresponsible to me to accept blood donations that have not been screened, but hey, I’m not a doctor, and I didn’t even sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night.
I won’t get tested here unless I show up at a medical facility with a cough and a fever, complaining of shortness of breath.
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Well, crap. Over 60 and blood type A-. Guess I just keep on working from home and staying isolated.
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You can buy a home blood type test cheap online delivered. I honestly don’t know if you can just call your dr and ask. They probably can’t give that info out over the phone.
I’m O+ - would be impossible for me to be anything else since both my parents are as well.
But I also knew I was since forever.
*edit
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Interesting. Speaking as a sample size of one, living with a type b partner, I tend to agree. When we’re outside together the difference is striking.
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US Army tested me decades ago; my dogtag says A+ which I always thought was a good grade. I’ve been sheltering since 1 March and won’t emerge anytime soon. No need to microwave my weak blood.
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Caveat emptor.
Researchers at the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics, a nonprofit research center in Geneva, tested five COVID-19 RT-PCR tests and found that all five achieved 100% sensitivity on positive samples, and at least 96% specificity on negative samples in a laboratory setting.
In the real world, testing conditions and process are far from perfect, and accuracy suffers. Researchers still don’t know what the real-world false positive rate is, but clinical sensitivity of RT-PCR tests ranges from 66% to 80%. That means nearly one in three infected people who are tested will receive false negative results.
So asymptomatic transmission is still very much a big deal:
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe2009758
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Antihistamine cream is great. Better than cortisone.
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I meant blood type kit. Will edit.
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It sure is. Taking a benedryl along w/it is also V helpful.
Some baking soda on a folded up, damp paper towel over a bug bite or wasp/bee sting is also V good. When the paper towel is removed, you can even see the yellow toxin the baking soda has sucked out of it.
When we could afford to visit Jamaica, we got hip to the calamine cream made by a J’can pharma company. The liquid sucks - it never wants to stay put where it’s needed, it’s too thin, it’s a mess. The cream stays where it’s supposed to, and in the desired amount. Never found it anywhere else 
and we’ve run out.
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B+ here. Guess I’m fucked as well.
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My wife is O-
Every time she goes to donate, they ask her if she’s willing to sit for an additional 1/2 hour so they can take a full liter (not just a 1/2) and then the’ll replace the fluid. I guess they don’t care about B+ like me.
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A dear friend is a doc at a low income clinic in southwest Detroit. He caught and survived the plague. All he would say about it was he was sick AF for 2 wks. He returned to work once he was safe, and is doing the drive-up testing in their parking lot.
Here in Michigan, if you live in/near a hot spot, you can just show up & get tested. We have many places where testing is being done, and a lot of them are free of charge.
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Huh. I’ll have to try the baking soda on the next mosquito welt.
Benadryl puts me to sleep, so I avoid taking it unless I’m competely chewed or headed to bed.
All the poeple i know are O are also mosquito candy. But that’s not very many poeple. Most poeple don’t know their blood type.
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I’m O+, which is not quite as coveted. You probably know this, the blood banks love O- because it’s used in emergency situations when there isn’t time to blood type. My father-in-law is an ER doc and he said a good stock of O- is essential, mostly for car crash victims.
I would give blood if I could, but I have iron issues.
Edited to correct all the typos.
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