← Return to Donating Blood during COVID-19

Discussion

Donating Blood during COVID-19

Post-COVID Recovery & COVID-19 | Last Active: Jul 5, 2021 | Replies (21)

Comment receiving replies
@colleenyoung

Hi @seafire and welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. You'll notice that I moved your message to an existing discussion about Donating Blood during COVID-19 https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/donating-blood/

I did this so you can talk with others who have and are considering donating blood and asking about testing. @schlegdiesel and @ihatediabetes can share about their experiences donating blood during this time.

On Connect, members are fellow patients and caregivers, not medical professionals. Others have had the same questions as you about testing for COVID-19 and antibodies. Often patients are being asked to bring their own masks as they are in short supply at health care facilities. I don't know if the donation center would be able to fulfill that demand in NYC right now.

Here's a video about the high demand for blood during COVID
https://youtu.be/ASSzPwnf2ow

Your questions are good questions. Is this something you can ask the blood bank before you go?

Jump to this post


Replies to "Hi @seafire and welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. You'll notice that I moved your message to..."

Hi. Thanks for the quick reply and re-posting to the proper group. To your question: I have had no luck dealing with technical issues speaking directly with "New York Blood Center". As an example, I had a Shingles Vaccine 8 days before my last donation. I called the day before to be sure I was able to donate. I was told that if I received Shingrix (non live) vaccine, I was good to go. When I arrived to donate there was much confusion. At first they would not take blood from me. They did not seem to know the difference between the different types of Shingles Vaccines, and were adamant about my not being able to donate. Only after they spoke to their medical director and to my Doc was I allowed to donate. They may very well be testing for Covid-19, at least I hope so! I don't think it unreasonable to be informed of the test results, in fact, it could be life-saving. Given my age and my COPD, it is a big risk for me to even leave my apartment, which I have not done for over a month. I "believe" that by law, if my tests turn up some problem, like AIDS for instance, they must inform me. What feedback I do get from them is an email stating that my blood was used at this facility or that for a particular use, I.E. save an accident victim or some such thing. That tells me that I am disease free. Now, with this pandemic afoot, things are a bit more complicated and dire, and the need to know details is more important than ever. I thought perhaps someone here may have had the same questions/concerns. However, after reading through this thread, it seems that may not be the case. Thanks again for your reply. I will continue to monitor this thread via e-mail. Thanks for your work here! Have a great day and be safe!