Blood Centers In The Northland In Desperate Need For Type O Blood Donors

The COVID-19 Pandemic has caused so much chaos across all fields especially the medical community, and now they are putting out a plea for lifesaving blood donations especially type O.

According to Memorial Blood Centers 0+ is the most common blood type while 0- is harder to come by. According to WDIO the Memorial Blood Center based in St. Paul has put out a statement saying that they are in immediate need for donations as hospitals are running low on blood. The hardest hit blood type in need of donations are Type O blood, with an emphasis for Type O positive.

Memorial Blood Center asks that if you are able to donate to call 1-888-448-3253 or visit MBC.org to schedule an appointment. As far as COVID-19 Protocols:

MBC is committed to the safety of our donors, volunteers, employees and blood recipients, and to transparency with the public during this evolving public health emergency. There is no data or evidence that this coronavirus can be transmitted by blood transfusion. In fact, there have been no reported cases of transfusion-transmission for any respiratory virus, including this coronavirus. It is safe to donate blood, and we encourage healthy individuals to donate so that blood is available for those patients in need. Our blood collection sites are frequently cleaned, and we are taking extra precautions to help prevent the person-to-person spread of COVID-19 per CDC recommendations. We have implemented visitor screening polices (see above) and are performing temperature checks on all staff members and donors.

If you have never donated blood before it is a fairly painless process and does not take a huge amount of time to donate. Your one blood donation could help people with certain blood cancers, burn victims, people requiring surgery, newborn babies and more. All blood types are accepted, but the need again right now is O blood types. There are MBC donation centers in Duluth, Superior, Hibbing, and Virginia.