American Red Cross issues rare crisis warning: The country is running out of blood

The U.S. is facing a nationwide blood supply crisis, spurring the American Red Cross to issue a formal declaration urging immediate blood donations. Since the nonprofit was founded in 1881, this is only the second time in history it has issued such a serious warning.

In a statement, the public aid group did not mince words in its warning that America’s blood supply was running dry, noting that donations this summer stand at a four-year low, compounding an issue where new draws were already “not keeping pace with hospital demand.”

Further, it added that demand right now is exceptionally high, as summer tends to be the season where trauma centers see a lot of injuries serious enough to necessitate transfusions.

As for why Americans are not donating as much as usual, it comes down to a confluence of factors, including extreme heat, poor air quality and “widespread foodborne illness,” the American Red Cross said—the latter a reference to an ongoing cyclospora outbreak that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said has been linked to iceberg lettuce from nine states.

The parasitic infection has been causing havoc since May 1, with most states having some cases. Michigan has been hit particularly hard. As of July 28, the state reported 9,680 cyclosporiasis cases in total, with 160 serious enough to require hospitalization.

With record heat sweeping the country, and wildfire smoke from Canada leaving the East Coast in a haze, the American Red Cross says people don’t have the will, or aren’t finding the time, to donate blood.

“The Red Cross takes its responsibility as the nation’s largest single provider of blood products incredibly seriously and has worked tirelessly to strengthen the blood supply for our hospital partners,” Chris Hrouda, president of Red Cross Biomedical Services, said in a statement.

He noted that the first time the charity ever issued a full-on blood crisis warning was in 2022, when the country was exiting the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time, Hrouda said “additional safeguards” were put in place to “prevent a crisis like that from happening again.”

Yet, the nation's largest supplier of blood finds itself in a similar situation only six years later, with type O blood supplies said to be at particularly low inventories, hit by significant strain as a result of the high-demand summer months.

“Every donation has the potential to help save lives, and we urgently need everyone who is eligible to make an appointment to give blood as soon as possible,” Hrouda added.