Red Cross Announces Emergency Blood Shortage: 'Donors Are Urgently Needed'

The American Red Cross has announced a blood shortage, stating the national inventory has “plummeted more than 25% in July.”

On August 5, the agency said that blood drives have been impacted due to record-setting heat, in a time when summer vacation and other seasonal activities often impact the turnout in drives.

As a result, “due to the supply of type O blood being so low, the organization has had to reduce distributions of this vital blood type in recent weeks to below hospital comfort levels,” the agency announced in a press release.

That blood type is crucial, the agency says, as Dr. Barry Siegfried, medical director of the Red Cross Michigan Region explains in a release: “It’s critical that hospitals have both type O positive and O negative blood ready to go for patients in the most life-threatening situations.”

“Type O is especially important for people injured in accidents and other trauma who receive emergency care. Donors of all blood types can help ensure hospital shelves are restocked to prevent patient care from being impacted.”

The agency stressed that “donors are urgently needed now.”

As the Red Cross explains, Type O negative blood has no antigens, so it “won't trigger an immune response, even if the recipient has a different blood type.”

Dr. Baia Lasky, division chief medical officer for the Red Cross, said in a statement, "for trauma patients, each minute of delay can increase the chance of death by 5%."  

However, only 7% of the population has this type of blood.

In January, the Red Cross faced a similar shortage, when the nonprofit said they’d experienced the “lowest number of people giving blood in the last 20 years.”

There are eligibility requirements for blood donation, but for the most flexible type of donation — whole blood donation, the type most commonly solicited at blood drives — donors need to be at least 16 years of age, and weigh a minimum of 110 lbs.

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These donations take about an hour.

Those looking to make a donation can make an appointment‚ or search for a nearby blood drive, on the Red Cross’s website, or by calling 1-800-RED-CROSS.