The University of California–Irvine (UCI) says it’s found a way to reduce COVID-19 related hospitalizations, and the strategy is so effective that a federal virus response team has tapped it as a model. The UCI is using monoclonal antibodies (antibodies developed in a laboratory) to help lessen virus symptoms for those who tested positive for COVID-19. Its medical team has treated about 170 patients with the antibody therapy with great success, said Dr. Alpesh N. Amin. “There is about a threefold reduction in hospitalizations and [emergency room] visits, compared to patients that don’t get treatment,” Amin, Thomas and Mary Cesario chair of medicine, told The Epoch Times. UCI spokesperson Nicole Feldman said a small percentage of patients who received the monoclonal treatment required hospitalization. “Of the first 86 patients who received monoclonal antibody therapy at UCI—which included Latino, white, Asian-American and Black patients—only about 3 percent afterward had to be admitted …