Joern Pollex/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — The American Red Cross said they’re now facing a “severe blood shortage,” as blood drives across the country continue to be cancelled as concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic grow.
“Right now, the Red Cross is distributing blood donations faster than they are coming in,” Paul Sullivan, senior vice president of the American Red Cross, told ABC News.
As of Tuesday morning, nearly 2,700 Red Cross blood drives in the U.S. have been cancelled, resulting in approximately 86,000 fewer blood donations, according to a statement from the organization.
In their statement, Red Cross wrote a blood shortage can impact patients who need surgery, victims of car accidents or individuals who are suffering from cancer. Sullivan explained that the organization is working hard to avoid a situation where doctors would have to decide how best to use the blood they have.
“I am looking at the refrigerator that contains only one day’s supply of blood for the hospital,” Dr. Robertson Davenport, director of transfusion medicine at Michigan Medicine in Ann Arbor, said in the statement. “The hospital is full. There are patients who need blood and cannot wait.”
If you’d like to make an appointment to donate, you can do so on the American Red Cross website or by calling 1-800-red-cross.
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