One of Michigan’s main blood suppliers is calling on state residents to continue donating blood.
Versiti Blood Center of Michigan, which provides blood to roughly 65 Michigan hospitals, said they’ve seen a decline in donations.
The organization is reminding residents that blood donations qualify as critical infrastructure and are excluded from the stay at home order.
LeeAnn Weitekamp is the senior medical director of Versiti Michigan. She said hospital demand has gone down.
“They are using about 30% less blood because they are delaying elective surgeries and elective appointments and only using blood for those that critically need it.”
Weitekamp said their blood supplies are also down by about 30%. She said people need to continue blood donations throughout the crisis.
According to Weitekamp the science is evolving but there is no evidence of transfusion transmitted coronavirus.
She said the company will ensure donors do not infect one another.
“We’re social distancing as much as we can and then if we can’t we’ll put a barrier. Either a solid barrier or those cloth partitions that can go between people.”
Weitekamp encouraged people to visit one of eight donation centers across the state.