A regional bloodbank says it’s facing a shortage of donations. They’re encouraging people to give blood this weekend.

Bloodworks Northwest has experienced hundreds of cancellations by individual donors and about a dozen blood drives were cancelled due to concerns over coronavirus.

Annette Casper is Regional Director for BloodWorks Northwest. She says, as of Friday, they have a 2-day supply of O-negative blood.

“We rely on donors to come in and donate a pint, and without that, we get into a situation where we won’t have blood on the shelves and we’ll put our hospitals in very difficult situations where they are going to have to make decisions between life and death based on blood use.”

Casper urges people who are able to donate blood to do so. She says they’re following CDC guidelines to minimize the risk of exposure to coronavirus. She says you can’t get the virus through blood donation.

https://www.bloodworksnw.org/donate/locations/lane