PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) ─ The Rhode Island Blood Center is urging those who are healthy to consider donating blood as soon as possible as the organization deals with a dramatic decrease in the number of donors due to the coronavirus.

Kara LeBlanc, the marketing communications manager at the Rhode Island Blood Center, said half of the organization’s scheduled blood drives have been canceled due to the closure of the schools and businesses where they were going to be held.

“The problem is that when one blood center is suffering in one way, a lot of times another blood center will help them out,” LeBlanc said. “So we all, nationwide, are in the same situation. We are not able to get blood from other centers. We are not able to give it to other centers. So we are trying to bring up the local supply.”

LeBlanc said just because the center has seen a decrease in donations doesn’t mean Rhode Island has seen a decrease in patient needs. She said blood donations are crucial for people experiencing complications with childbirth, cancer patients, those who need surgery and trauma victims.

“It is safe to donate blood. We are taking all our precautions here that we need to take to keep both our staff and our donors safe,” LeBlanc said. “It [coronavirus] can’t be transmitted via blood to a patient.”

In response to this blood shortage, LeBlanc said the center is asking people to make appointments within the next couple of weeks. She said Rhode Island’s blood supply is at “a dangerous and critical level.”

She also said the center doesn’t have to adhere to the directive by state officials to not hold or attend gatherings of 25 people or more.

“It’s important to know blood centers and blood drives are not considered social gatherings,” she said. “They are controlled environments with staff trained in universal precautions.”

“Blood donation is a vital and critical part of patient care and of emergency preparedness. It’s not a bar. It’s not a restaurant. These are not social gatherings,” LeBlanc added.

To anyone nervous to donate blood, LeBlanc stressed the Rhode Island Blood Center has many precautions in place, in addition to the ones in effect on a regular basis.

She said there is currently an additional screening process for any prospective donors, additional sanitation practices and the center has stopped mobile drives on the buses because they are considered a confined space.

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