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The American Red Cross reports the novel coronavirus pandemic has caused a severe shortage of blood donations.
Through Thursday, more than 5,000 blood drives had been canceled across the country, said Joe Zydlo, Red Cross external communications manager for blood services. Those cancellations mostly happened over the past two weeks.
"Regionally (most of Arkansas and all of Missouri), we lost 235 blood drives," Zydlo said. "That (equates to) 9,600 uncollected donations."
Healthy people are needed to schedule appointments to give blood before the pandemic deepens, he said. Although health officials are recommending people stay home and self-isolate to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, one major exception is officials are asking folks to give blood.
"The (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) released a statement: It's OK to donate blood," Zydlo said. "If you need to go out for groceries, go donate blood."
The Red Cross asks people go to redcrossblood.org to find the nearest location where they can donate blood, he continued. Or, people should call 1-800-733-2767 to find out where they may give blood.
The Red Cross understands people are anxious about going to a space where there may be others. All sites are checking temperatures of staff and donors before they enter a blood drive to be certain they are healthy.
They are also providing hand sanitizer.
Staff are disinfecting surfaces even more often than before the pandemic began.
Spacing of beds is following social distancing practices (by remaining 6 feet apart when possible), Zydlo said.
"There is no evidence and there are no reported cases of the coronavirus - or any other respiratory virus - being transmitted by a blood transfusion," he said.
On Friday, the Red Cross website showed blood drives in the Jefferson City Blood Donation Center, at 3230 Emerald Lane, were booked up for the day and today. There was one available time Sunday. However, there were many available times through the following week.
"It is a really troubling situation that we're in," Zydlo said. "With people being told they need to stay home, it's been a real struggle for us."