What to Know
- New York City has launched a campaign to encourage blood donations at a time when the ongoing pandemic has pushed the city’s blood supply to the brink creating an "urgent situation," Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday.
- Although the ideal supply of blood should stand at seven days, the mayor said during his daily coronavirus press briefing that the city's current supply is down to just "a few days" -- three days to be exact.
- Among the reasons for the shortage is the ongoing pandemic which has forced a number of blood drives to be canceled.
New York City has launched a campaign to encourage blood donations at a time when the ongoing pandemic has pushed the city’s blood supply to the brink creating an "urgent situation," Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday.
Although the ideal supply of blood should stand at seven days, the mayor said during his daily coronavirus press briefing that the city's current supply is down to just "a few days" -- three days to be exact. The reason for the shortage is the ongoing pandemic which has forced a number of blood drives to be canceled. In order to encourage New Yorkers to donate blood, the city launched a campaign with a goal of acquiring 25,000 blood donations by New Year's Day.
"The goal here is to get 25,000 New Yorkers to give blood this month so we can get that supply back up," de Blasio said. "The good news is that not only is it the right thing to do, not only will you help save a life and you will feel great inside that you did something so good…but now you will also gave an opportunity to win some great prices."
Those who donate blood can enter the contest by clicking here. Among the prizes are New York Jets tickets, Empire State Building tickets and Krispy Kreme donuts for a year.
Dr. Christopher D. Hillyer, President and CEO of New York Blood Center, said that in order to reach appropriate levels of blood reserves, "we need about 2,000 donations a day and 25,000 additional donations this coming month."
Hillyer also outlined why it has been so difficult for the New York Blood Center to collect blood during the pandemic.
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"This next wave of COVID and the weather and the holiday season makes it very much more difficult to collect blood. Typically we do so in office buildings, churches and synagogues, schools, universities, all basically closed. We need you to come out to our fixed site centers on our website and make a donation plan and timed appointment," he said.
Hillyer reminded the public during the mayor's coronavirus press briefing that although we are in an ongoing pandemic, people are still hospitalized with trauma and are in need of blood donations for a myriad of reasons.
"During COVID people still go to the hospital with trauma: mothers delivering babies, babies who are premature, surgeries, cancer patients, all these patients need blood… we need everyone to come out at this critical juncture so that we don’t move from critical shortage to dangerous shortage," he urged.
To schedule an appointment to donate blood, visit nybc.org/donate.
"This is really a very urgent situation. We need you," de Blasio said.
