BRYAN, Texas — The Blood Center of Brazos Valley has faced a blood shortage along with other blood banks across the country.
Stephen Walker, the Regional Operations Manager for the Blood Center, said that the shortage started at the beginning of the pandemic and has continued on. Walker said the facility normally carries three days-worth of blood units, which totals about 3,000 units of blood. According to Walker, the facility is now down to one day’s worth of blood units available.
Walker said the Blood Center of Brazos Valley serves hospitals all across the Brazos Valley. Walker added that they regularly hold drives for the community but they’ve also had to decrease the number of drives they’ve held since the start of the pandemic. Walker said he feels that the increase in cases over the holidays is one of the driving factors as to why there have been fewer donors showing up to their facility.
“We have seen a lot fewer donations, a lot of people working from home. We’ve had several drives that were going out that are not there. So we are asking people that are working from home to donate two times,” said Walker.
The Blood Center of Brazos Valley said that if you test positive or have COVID-19, then you must wait ten days and be asymptomatic before donating.