Covid curtails blood donations, Western Pa. collection groups say

It was day of firsts on Thursday for Shari Vislosky of Penn Township and her two oldest teenagers, who joined about 50 donors at the American Red Cross’ blood drive at Hempfield Park.

It was the first time that Vislosky has donated since the covid-19 pandemic hit Western Pennsylvania in March and the first time her 18-year-old daughter, Julia, and 17-year-old son, Michael, have donated.

“I was a little nervous,” Vislosky said. But, despite her dislike of being poked with a needle, she did not mind “because it’s for a real good cause.”

Stacy Winfield, of Jeannette, said she has not donated during the pandemic, but, “I wanted to help because of the covid.”

It’s more donors like the Visloskys and Winfield that blood providers like the Red Cross and Vitalant, formerly the Central Blood Bank, need in this time of covid-related restrictions, they said.

The covid-19 restrictions against large gatherings “put a stain on our operations,” and “we had to scale back” on the blood drives, said Regina Booth-Bratton, a spokeswoman for the American Red Cross.

An estimated 19,000 units of blood went uncollected because 576 blood drives in southwestern Pennsylvania — including Allegheny and Westmoreland counties — were canceled since April 1, said Kristen Lane, a spokeswoman for Vitalant in Pittsburgh, which has 10 donation centers in the region.

Vitalant, which supplies UPMC and Allegheny Health Network hospitals with blood, needs to produce 600 units of blood a day, Lane said. It has been struggling to fill the quota. But postponement of elective surgeries this spring helped to ease the demand for blood at that time, Lane noted.

Antibody test

Donors might be surprised to know that both services test the blood they receive for the covid antibodies. If present, the plasma can be drawn from the donated blood and “the antibodies within convalescent plasma can give an extra boost to patients battling the disease,” Lane said.

Those test results typically are known within 7-10 days and the donor is notified, Booth-Bratton said.

“It’s very surprising to some people. They were asymptomatic and did not know it,” but their blood might be “absolutely rich in antibodies,” Lane said.

As the number of covid cases rise, the need grows “to support the increasing demand (for convalescent plasma) from physicians treating covid-19 patients,” Lane said.

“It’s getting critical,” Booth-Bratton added.

Virtual blood drives

Plans to conduct blood drives had to be scrapped when organizations, schools and businesses that might serve as donation sites were not open or hesitant to have extra people in their building, Lane said.

In the pre-covid days, donors could walk into a blood drive, answer a questionnaire, get finger pricked and then wait for an open table to donate. Now, Booth-Bratton said the Red Cross focuses on getting donors to make appointments and undergo a screening process that includes a temperature check while maintaining social distancing as they donate blood.

In response to the challenges, Lane said they created “virtual blood drives,” where donors can give during the week at one of the centers and credit sponsoring organization.

The holiday season is generally a time when there are fewer donors at the blood drives, Booth-Bratton said. It also comes at a time during the normal flu season, which can tamp down donations.

“When you add in covid, it compounds the problem,” Booth-Bratton said.

Trauma and burn patients, premature infants, heart surgery patients, organ transplant recipients and cancer patients all require transfusions for their care, Lane said.

“That care does not stop during the holiday season,” she noted.