Feb. 23. With record-breaking cold and winter storms resulting in the American Red Cross cancelling blood drives in about 30 states, there’s a shortage of blood products everywhere. The Red Cross is asking healthy individuals, especially those with type O blood, to give now to ensure blood products are available for patient emergencies.

To help ensure lifesaving patient care isn’t impacted, individuals in areas unaffected by severe weather are urged to make appointments to donate by visiting RedCrossBlood.org, calling 1-800-RED CROSS or enabling the Blood Donor Skill on any Alexa Echo device.

For local donation sites organized by Zip Code, click here.

COVID-19 info

Red Cross antibody tests will be helpful to identify individuals who have COVID-19 antibodies and may now help current coronavirus patients in need of convalescent plasma transfusions. COVID-19 antibody test results will be available within one to two weeks in the Red Cross Blood Donor App or donor portal at RedCrossBlood.org. To protect the health and safety of Red Cross staff and donors, it is important that individuals individuals who do not feel well or believe they may be ill with COVID-19 postpone donation.