FARMINGTON, Conn. — The national blood supply is so low as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the American Red Cross has declared its first-ever national blood crisis.
In the hopes of encouraging people to roll up their sleeves to donate, the organization is offering up a trip to this year's Super Bowl.
The Red Cross said this week it's seen a 10% decline in the number of people donating blood since the pandemic began. The decline coincided with the emergence of the delta variant of COVID-19 followed by the omicron variant now. Donor turnout is down, blood drives have been canceled and there have been staffing shortages, the organization said.
“We usually aim for a five-day supply of blood, but now we’re down to one or even less than one a day for hospitals," said Andreina Sosa with the American Red Cross.
The Red Cross said as much as one-quarter of hospital blood needs are not being met at times.
“Our hospitals and doctors are forced to make really difficult decisions on who gets to get the transfusion and who doesn’t," said Sosa.
“As a level one trauma center, we always have to be ready for a mass casualty or someone in a horrific accident or someone flown in by Lifestar and so you have to have a little reserve for that," said Dr. Bradford Sherburne, a physician at Hartford Hospital.
The Red Cross said while all blood types are needed, O positive and O negative are of particular need as well as platelet donations.
That call was also echoed by Felix Cruz of Manchester, who almost lost his life last winter when stitches erupted following a surgery, leading to massive blood loss.
“The code blue was actually twice. I flat-lined. I was gone. One of the doctors that was crying, hugged me, he said, 'You were gone. We lost you,'" said Cruz.
Cruz's saving grace was blood donations.
"I was losing 750 milliliters of blood every 45 minutes to an hour. They gave me seven units of blood, one unit of plasma, one unit of platelets," said Cruz.
People who come in to donate until January 31 will be automatically entered to win two tickets to Super Bowl LVI in Los Angeles, round-trip airfare, three nights of lodging, and a $500 gift card for expenses.
"It happened to me. People donating blood saved my life, so I know that I could help someone else. And if we all do our part, we’ll be able to save lives," said Cruz.
Additionally, the Red Cross said it is in need of volunteers to help at blood drives and to transport blood to hospitals across the country.
To sign up to donate, click here.
Angelo Bavaro is an anchor and reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at abavaro@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
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