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Blood Banks Need Your Blood More Than Ever Right Now
19 hours ago
Blood Banks Need Your Blood More Than Ever Right Now
The nation could soon face an unprecedented blood supply shortage thanks to coronavirus.
Julia Lurie
Blood donations are plummeting as coronavirus cases continue to rise, raising the alarming possibility of a national blood supply shortage. The resounding message from blood banks: If you’re healthy, give blood now.
America’s Blood Centers, an organization representing independent blood banks, which together collect more than half of the nation’s blood supply, reported Wednesday that a fifth of its members have a single day’s supply of blood or less. An additional quarter of centers have two days or less. Normally, blood centers want to have five days’ supply on hand.
Things are similarly bleak at the Red Cross, the nation’s largest blood collector: In the past 24 hours, Red Cross blood drive cancellations have doubled due to coronavirus concerns, with 125 canceled blood drives—translating to 3,500 uncollected blood donations. Each donation typically helps three people.
America’s Blood Centers reported that a fifth of its members have a single day’s supply of blood or less. An additional quarter have two days or less. Normally, blood centers want to have five days’ supply on hand.
“This is an unprecedented situation,” says a Red Cross spokesperson. “We are doing everything we can to prevent a shortage. We are very concerned that fewer eligible donors will be able to give making it extremely difficult for our inventory to recover if we get to shortage levels.”
The dwindling blood supply is coming from fewer donations as more and more people practice social distancing and stay home, and blood drives, which often take place at schools or workplaces, are canceled. Blood centers stress that giving blood remains fundamentally safe for donors; giving blood isn’t akin to a mass gathering. Blood banks already take measures to prevent the spread of infection, but many are taking extra precautions. The Red Cross will check the temperatures of all donors before they enter donation centers, and it has stepped up vigilance around typical protocols, like changing gloves between each donor and disinfecting surfaces. Some mobile blood banks are limiting the number of people on the bus at any given time.
more...
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/03/blood-banks-need-donations-shortage-coronavirus-safe/
5 replies
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How are you doing down under? Infecting our movie stars, I see!
Seriously, how's by you? Are you hunkering down?
And that's seriously grand of you!
Hopefully they'll get great care. They're in Queensland, 1800 kms away.
It's not rampant here yet. Handful of cases in the state capital cities, from what I read. No reports of infection in my small town. Personally, I'm avoiding crowds, washing my hands with soap & hot water regularly and really only seeing a handful of close friends. Spending days recycling old concrete for crazy paving, which keeps me off the street.
Oh, and of course the beach! Couple of hours each day with my new puppy.
How are you going? I'm more worried about my friends in the US with that useless fucker squatting in the White House. Keep yourself safe Sis, I'm thinking of you and following the news closely.