American Red Cross Ensuring Safety While Donating During Coronavirus Outbreak

The need for lifesaving blood services is still more important with the inventory being very low.

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(Louisville, Ky.) - With the recent outbreak of coronavirus disease continuing to spread in the U.S., many may be concerned about their health and safety while donating blood.

Ryan Brown, from the American Red Cross, says, “We are dedicated to ensuring the safety of our donors as well as our employees and volunteers as we continue to run our blood drive operations.”

The American Red Cross is putting safety first at each blood drive, with employees wearing gloves and protective gear, wiping down donor- touched areas after every collection, using sterile collection sets for every donation, and arm scrubbing. With these mitigation measures, it helps ensure blood safety, as well as staff and donor safety in reducing contact with those who potentially have this respiratory infection.

Brown would also like donors to know that there is no data or evidence shown that this coronavirus can be transmissible by blood transfusions, and there have not been any cases of transmissions for any respiratory virus including coronavirus.

The Red Cross has also implemented new blood donation deferrals out of an abundance of caution, asking individuals to postpone their donations for 28 days if they meet certain risk criteria.

Risk criteria involves traveling to China and its special administrative regions, Hong Kong and Macau, as well as Iran, Italy, and South Korea. Also, diagnosis of COVID- 19, contact with a person who has the virus, or suspected to have it.

The need for lifesaving blood services is still more important with the inventory being very low.

The Red Cross wants to ensure donors that they are continuously monitoring virus activity and takes proactive actions to safeguard the blood supply when necessary.