US blood banks are facing a critical shortage

The Red Cross tries to have three days of tested blood available in the event of emergencies

Blood banks in the US are struggling to maintain their emergency stocks, with this month's national supply dropping to the lowest in a decade.

According to the American Red Cross, which supplies approximately 40 per cent of blood in the US, the shortage is due primarily to a lack of healthy donors.

It is not unusual for blood donation to slow around the winter holiday season. Inclement weather, holiday trips and gatherings, breaks from school and seasonal illness all contribute to the shrink in the potential donor pool.

However, according to Chris Hrouda, the president of biomedical services at the American Red Cross, even when accounting for the season, the blood supply is still extraordinarily low. Concerns over the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus, the massive expansion of remote work, and cancellations of blood drive events have likely compounded the usual difficulties blood banks face during the winter.

"This is the biggest challenge that I've seen in my 30 years in the business," he told The New York Times. "We simply like to keep three days of inventory. We're struggling to keep one day."

After blood is donated, it takes three days to be tested before it can be made available for use.

Donor blood is an invaluable resource for both hospitals and for the nation's emergency management response. Surgeries, cancer treatments, chronic illness treatment and traumatic injuries can all require the use of donated blood.

According to the Red Cross, the blood shortage has forced some hospitals to cancel surgeries. In other hospitals, medical workers have to closely monitor how they use the life-saving liquid.

This is the second time the US has faced a blood shortage partially due in part to the pandemic; in March 2020, just after the pandemic first began to affect life in the US, the nation's blood supply ran critically low.

In response to that crisis, the FDA eased certain restrictions allowing blood banks to replenish their stocks more easily.

Blood drives are more common now than at the start of the pandemic, but more are needed to replenish the US blood supply.

The impact of the blood shortage was felt just a week ago in the aftermath of deadly tornadoes that tore through western Kentucky, leaving 77 people dead.

As emergency crews worked to clear wreckage and recover bodies, the state's governor Andy Beshear called on residents to donate blood to help those injured during the storms. Individuals who could not donate their money or needed items to the recovery effort were asked to donate their blood.