Blood centers face donation deficit due to coronavirus fears

Coronavirus fears and prevention measures have led several Bay Area companies to cancel their blood drives, creating a shortage that prompted blood banks Monday to issue an urgent appeal for donations.

Seven company-sponsored blood drives organized by Vitalant blood centers have been canceled in the Bay Area since last week. As a result, the organization lost 314 units of blood it had been expecting, said Kent Corley, a Santa Rosa spokesman for Vitalant, formerly Blood Centers of the Pacific.

The company-sponsored drives have become a crucial source of donations for the region's health care system because they make it convenient for employees to give blood.

“They really are critically important,” Corley said. “People just find it hard to donate on their own.”

Vitalant strives to maintain a four-day supply of blood to meet hospitals' needs, but currently has less than half that amount for many blood types. It has particular need of platelets, which have a five-day shelf life, and type O-negative blood, the universal blood type that can help stabilize all patients and is frequently used in trauma treatment.

Dr. Ralph Vassallo, Vitalant's chief medical and scientific officer, urged healthy individuals Monday to visit a blood donation center and help make up for the shortage.

“Hospitals will be extremely challenged if COVID-19 infections increase. The last thing we want them worrying about is having enough blood for trauma victims and cancer patients. That's why it's imperative that healthy individuals donate blood at drives and blood donation sites now,” Vassallo said in a statement.

Vitalant said it is taking strict precautions to ensure the safety of its donations process. It is asking people not to donate if they have visited mainland China, South Korea, Iran and Italy in the past 28 days. Also, it is not accepting blood from donors who have had a novel coronavirus infection or been exposed to someone suspected of having an infection.

Vassallo said the risk of contracting COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, is currently low. Because of the nature of the coronavirus, it is highly unlikely it can be transmitted through blood transfusions, he said. Once donated, blood components undergo FDA-mandated testing, Vitalant said.

Healthy people are strongly encouraged to make a blood donation appointment by calling 877-258-4825 or going online to vitalant.org.

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 707-521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com.