Having already faced a shortage of hospital beds and ventilators, New York City officials say the novel coronavirus has spawned a new crisis: an alarmingly low blood supply. Mayor Bill de Blasio cautioned Sunday that the New York City Blood Center is down to just a two-day supply and pleaded with New
Having already faced a shortage of hospital beds and ventilators, New York City officials say the novel coronavirus has spawned a new crisis: an alarmingly low blood supply.
He said that before New York City became the U.S. epicenter of the global pandemic, blood drives at businesses, churches and other sites were the biggest source of donated blood in the area. Now, blood drives have almost completely stopped as churches and businesses have been forced to shut down as part of the stay-at-home measures being taken to blunt the spread of the disease that has infected more than 190,000 people and caused nearly 16,000 confirmed deaths in New York City alone.
"We only had two last week -- a far cry from the 600 a month when we are under normal operations," Cafarelli said.De Blasio said the city's public hospitals have implemented conservation practices to stretch out the emergency blood supply on hand. "This is an appropriate reason to leave home for sure," de Blasio said."You'll be helping your fellow New Yorker and helping to keep people safe."
The Food and Drug Administration recently relaxed some of the restrictions that have blocked gay and bisexual men from donating blood. Restrictions on blood donations from gay and bisexual men, and other groups considered to be high risk for HIV or AIDS transmission, date back to the 1980s. Story continuesMORE: FDA worried about blood shortage as donation drives are canceled amid coronavirus concerns
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