AUSTIN (KXAN) — We Are Blood issued an urgent, community-wide plea for blood donations amid COVID-19 concerns, the group said Tuesday.

We Are Blood is the exclusive provider of blood and platelet donation to more than 40 Central Texas hospitals and medical centers in a 10-county area, and leaders are worried about the impact COVID-19 fears are having on blood drives.

“We’ve experienced multiple mobile blood drive cancellations this week due to fears surrounding COVID-19 and are seeing a downturn in blood donations as concern grows in our community,” said Nick Canedo, the vice president of community engagement for We Are Blood.

“We want Central Texans to know it is safe to donate blood at our donor centers and mobile drives,” Canedo said.

The blood center requires at least 200 whole blood donations per day to meet community need, and the FDA says there is no evidence of tranfusion-transmitted coronavirus, the organization says.

We Are Blood has three area donation centers — Round Rock, North Lamar and South Austin — and mobile blood drives are scheduled weekly. Donating blood generally takes less than an hour and appointments can be made any day of the week.