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Official believes fear of virus is keeping Valley donors from blood banks

4 years 2 weeks 4 days ago Tuesday, March 10 2020 Mar 10, 2020 March 10, 2020 10:20 PM March 10, 2020 in News - Coronavirus Pandemic

MCALLEN – Officials say blood donations are usually slow, but never as slow as they have been. It appears people might not be going in, because they fear they might get the coronavirus while donating.

Frank Esparza, regional director at Vitalant, says they have added extra hand sanitizing stations and signs prohibiting people from donating if they’ve traveled to impacted areas or if they have been in contact with infected individuals.

Esparza says in a day they are supposed to fill up nearly 150 pints of blood and distribute them to hospitals. If they’re unable to do so, facilities will have to depend on sources outside the Rio Grande Valley.

The Food and Drug Administration says in general respiratory viruses are not known to be transmitted by blood transfusion, added there are no reported cases of transfusion-transmitted coronavirus.

Watch the video above for the full report.

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