Blood donations are once again needed as supply is forecasted to drop due to the rise in COVID.
Dr. John Armitage, CEO of the Oklahoma Blood Institute, said because of the recent virus spike, scheduled donors who are being cautious of exposure have backed out.
“I guess the story from the blood center is what’s old is new again in terms of struggling with blood drive cancellations. We’ve had over 50 organizations pull back from blood drive dates that were on the calendar.”
Armitage said the blood center isn’t quite at the crisis level it was in previous pandemic waves, but the trend line is going in the wrong direction, especially since elective surgeries are continuing apace.
“Which is great, because we want people to get treated, but we need to collect a lot of blood every day. Pulling units away from that supply definitely hurts a little bit more since we still are full on with elective surgeries and there was a lot of cancer care that was deferred but is now online.”
OBI is offering an incentive in the form of a free hemoglobin diabetes test for donors.
For more information on donating, visit OBI’s website.