The national blood supply is so low as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the American Red Cross has declared its first ever national blood crisis. In the hopes of encouraging people to roll up their sleeves to donate, the organization is offering up a trip to this year's Super Bowl.
The Red Cross said Tuesday it's seen a 10% decline in the number of people donating blood since the pandemic began. The decline coincided with the emergence of the delta variant of COVID-19 followed by the omicron variant now. Donor turnout is down, blood drives have been canceled and there have been staffing shortages, the organization said. The Red Cross, America's Blood Centers and the Association for the Advancement of Blood & Biotherapies said in a joint statement Monday that blood centers nationwide have reported less than a one-day’s supply of some critical blood types in the past few weeks.