People answer the call to give, blood donations are back up

The blood supply is back up at a normal level after more than a month of scheduled blood drives were all canceled due to the coronavirus, leaving some blood centers, like One Blood, with a low supply.

"We saw a tremendous response by our donors throughout our service area who answered the call and they came in and helped boost up the blood supply and we are doing very well," One Blood Corporate Communications and Public Relations Senior Vice-President Susan Forbes said.

Back in March, according to Surgeon General Jerome Adams, more than 86,000 blood donations were lost as a result of canceled blood drives. OneBlood is now working to get blood to the more than 250 hospitals across the southeast they service.

"All of our team members are wearing gloves of course during each donation. All of the donor touchpoints are cleaned down with disinfectant during each donation, including the donor bed, the tablet, the blood pressure cuff, everything that the donor comes into contact with is disinfected," Forbes said.

The pandemic has forced One Blood to cancel more than 180 blood drives throughout its service area. However, individual donations helped make up that loss. With the need now being filled at a steady rate, the organization is now offering appointment-only donations.

"People, like I said, did answer the call so now it's about spacing out those donations because we need them for the long haul," Forbes said.