Coronavirus Latest: American Red Cross Facing Severe Blood Shortage During COVID-19 Pandemic
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - The coronavirus outbreak is having impacts on many people, including the nation's available blood supply. Alana Mauger, from the American Red Cross, spoke to Eyewitness News about how the outbreak is affecting blood supply donations and what you can do to help.
Q: With the outbreak of the coronavirus, how is it impacting blood supply donations?
The American Red Cross now faces a severe blood shortage and this is due to the unprecedented number of blood drive cancellations as people cope with this coronavirus pandemic.
Q: For those healthy individuals who are able to donate blood and want to help, what steps is the Red Cross taking to keep donors and its own staff safe?
That is a great question, and we understand why people may be hesitant to come out to a blood drive. We want to reassure everyone that we have implemented additional precautions to make sure that our donors and staff remain safe. Some of these include taking everyone's temperatures before they enter the blood drive - this is staff and donors - to make sure they are healthy. We're providing hand sanitizer for use before you go in the blood drive and throughout the process. We're spacing beds apart, where that is possible, to comply with social distancing guidelines and we're increasing and enhancing our disinfecting of surfaces and equipment. And all this is in addition to the thorough safety protocols that we always follow.
Q: Where can people find the most up-to-date information on where they can go to help?
The easiest thing to do is to go to RedCrossBlood.org and you can type in your zip code and find a blood drive near you. This is really the most way to get updated information since blood drives are being cancelled and added almost hourly.
Q: You talked about steps being taken to protect blood donors, what can you tell us about what is being done to protect the blood supply?
The good news is that there is no evidence that any respiratory illness, including this coronavirus, can be transmitted through blood transfusions, so our blood supply remains as safe as possible. We are asking that donors who have traveled to some places, including China, Italy, Iran, South Korea in the past months, that they defer their donations for 24 days from the time they returned. That is out of an over abundance of caution to keep the blood supply as safe as possible.
