ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - Blood donations are extremely low nationwide. The American Red Cross has declared an emergency shortage and said it's experiencing its lowest number of blood donations in two decades.
KMOX spoke with the Chief Communications Officer of the Red Cross Missouri, Sharon Watson, about the reason behind the decrease in donations. She pointed to lifestyle changes after COVID-19.
"More people are working remote and are not as close to a blood drive as they once were in their normal routine, and not only do we have the flu, but we now have COVID, RSV, and a lot of other things going on," Watson said. "There's a lot of sickness this time of year that has amplified since we went through the pandemic so we also see that impact affecting the number of people coming out."
Watson said the Red Cross suffered a 7,000 unit shortfall in blood donations between the Christmas and New Year holiday. She said people who have chronic illnesses like cancer and sickle cell anemia or are victims of car accidents could suffer during a medical emergency if the issue persists.
"It's something that we're very concerned about at this time because we don't want doctors to have to choose between patients who get the necessary blood," she said. "If the supplies aren't there doctors literally have to determine if they can delay surgeries and choose which patient needs the blood more than someone else."
Watson said the shelves in the Red Cross blood lab in St. Louis are very empty. That's a major issue because the lab supplies majority of the blood for local hospitals.
"We're really leaning on the public to help us out to bring in supplies and people can donate every 56 days so if they can get into the habit of doing it regularly, that's really ideal. Every two seconds someone is needing blood across the U.S."
January is National Blood Donor Month and the Red Cross is partnering with the National Football League to help with the shortage. Watson said if people who donate at a local Red Cross facility will automatically be entered into contest to win a trip for two at the upcoming Super Bowl in Las Vegas.
Visit www.redcrossblood.org to make an appointment to donate