Blood emergency: Less than 3-day supply of most blood types, all donors needed now

(WXYZ) — The American Red Cross is now facing an emergency shortage for almost all blood types.

• LIST: All the places you can donate blood in southeast Michigan

With less than a three-day supply of most blood types, the Red Cross says it has an emergency need for blood and platelet donors to give now to replenish the critically low blood supply.

Earlier this year, the organization had a less than two-day supply of Type O blood left. Just six units of type O blood were available for every 100,000 people, but at least 14 are needed every day.

The call for donations comes after a difficult July 4th week for donations when hundreds fewer blood drives were organized by volunteer hosts than a typical week, compounding a shortfall of more than 24,000 blood donations in June, the Red Cross said.

In June, the Red Cross launched the Missing Types campaign to encourage donors – especially new donors and those who have not donated in the past years – to give blood or platelets during the challenging summer months. Through the campaign, the letters A, B and O – letters that make up the main blood groups – disappeared from popular brands to symbolize what happens when blood goes missing from hospital shelves during blood shortages.

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