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How your blood type impacts coronavirus outcomes

The Spokane Regional Health District says that COVID-19 trends only seem to be increasing. New studies challenge a once agreed-upon theory.

SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. — Spokane County’s COVID-19 cases keep increasing, but there is still so much we don’t know about the virus. You may have heard that your blood type could affect how likely you are to get coronavirus, but that’s not entirely accurate.

"We started to think about blood type impacting the virus when we had first heard from China the work they had done," said Dr. Payal Kohli, a disease prevention expert. "It showed that those with blood type A maybe had a higher risk of infection."

Unless you need transfusions or donate blood often, the type of blood you have will probably not be a huge deal for you. But that may have changed when early coronavirus studies showed a potential correlation between blood type and how strongly the virus affects you.  

There is little evidence that blood type will impact infection rates or retention, according to new studies done by the Massachusetts General Hospital and Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. 

The earlier scientists were not extremely off in their suggestion that these were related, but rather they made the mistake of connecting blood type with COVID-19 outcomes instead of blood type with immune system strength. 

RELATED: Red Cross begins testing blood donations for coronavirus antibodies

They were correct in their idea that Type O people were slightly less likely to develop serious conditions, according to the new studies. 

"O is the universal donor and they are definitely better off in this situation," Kohli said. "But that is not to say that people with O type should not pay attention and still stay safe."

COVID-19 can also cause fatal blood clotting, and different blood types are at different levels of clotting risk. 

Type AB has the highest likelihood of clotting, O has the lowest and A and B are in between. Type O being least likely to have blood clots would make them a bit more successful than the other types at beating the virus. 

"If a patient walked into my office and told me they were O, they would probably be a little bit less susceptible," Kohli said. "If an A came in, they would probably be a bit more."

RELATED: DOH: COVID-19 on a path to 'runaway growth' in Washington state

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