The nation’s blood supply is dangerously low, prompting the Red Cross to announce a national blood crisis for the first time. According to CBS News, The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a decline in donor turnout, the cancellation of blood drives, and staffing challenges, leading to the worst blood shortage in more than a decade, the Red Cross said.
Last year, the Red Cross saw a 34% decline in new donors. “If the nation’s blood supply does not stabilize soon, life-saving blood may not be available for some patients when it is needed,” it warned in a joint statement with America’s Blood Centers and the Association for the Advancement of Blood and Biotherapies.
FOX10 stated that student donors at high schools and colleges accounted for roughly 25% of donors in 2019, a figure dropped to just 10% during the pandemic, according to the organization.
The ongoing cancellation of blood drives due to illness, severe weather, and staffing limitations have also contributed to the crisis. “Additional factors like a surge of COVID-19 cases and an active flu season may compound the already bad situation,” it said.
The warning comes as officials in other states have made similar pleas for blood, including officials in Minnesota who said last week that donations have reached a 10-year low. Hospitals in New England have also been forced to delay or reschedule surgeries “We haven’t seen anything like this in about 30 or 40 years at least,” Dr. Vishesh Chhibber, director of transfusion medicine at UMass Memorial Health, told the Boston Globe last summer.
