According to the Mayo Clinic's website the blood supply during the COVID-19 pandemic has decreased dramatically from a one to two week inventory to a one to two day inventory,
"The COVID-19 pandemic is creating critical blood shortages in the U.S. "It's not due to more COVID-19 patients needing blood products. Rather, it's a lack of donations coming in," says Dr. Justin Kreuter, transfusion medicine specialist with the Mayo Clinic Blood Drive Center.
"Our collections have really plummeted because of the concerns about being out in the community," he explains. "We're used to living at a one- to two-week blood inventory. Now a lot of the country is living at a one- to two-day inventory, and it's challenging to look at what our future holds."
Canonsburg Middle School Principal Dr. Greg Taranto recognized this need and wanted to help. He reached out to Vitalant, a company that, according to their website, "helps people realize their life-transforming potential by offering convenient blood donation opportunities and sharing our expertise in transfusion medicine." In just three weeks Dr. Taranto was able to organize the blood drive that was successfully held at Canonsburg Middle School on December 16th.
Dr. Taranto is glad that he was able to help out in some way,
"I am happy to say we had close to 30 donate their blood between teachers, staff, admin. We held it in Middle School gym where it allowed plenty of spacing.."
Thanks to Dr. Greg Taranto for organizing this blood drive and to all the staff members that came and donated! Every little bit helps in this global pandemic!