<\/em>While periodic, localized blood shortages are not uncommon, this shortage is ‘unprecedented in its scope’<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n <\/b><\/p>\n <\/b><\/p>\n MONDAY, June 21, 2021 (HealthDay News) — A blood shortage has forced some New England hospitals to delay or reschedule surgeries.<\/p>\n The shortage is due to a combination of factors, including the usual summer decline in blood donations, along with a spike in surgeries driven by operations postponed during the COVID-19 pandemic, officials say.<\/p>\n “We haven’t seen anything like this in about 30 or 40 years at least,” Vishesh Chhibber, M.D., director of transfusion medicine at UMass Memorial Health, told the Boston Globe<\/em>.<\/p>\n While periodic, localized blood shortages are not uncommon, this shortage is “unprecedented in its scope,” according to Claudia Cohn, M.D., chief medical officer for the American Association of Blood Banks.<\/p>\n Typically, there is a five-day supply of blood of all types nationwide, Red Cross of Massachusetts spokesperson Kelly Isenor said. But at the moment, there is only a half-day supply of urgently needed type O blood. “It’s going out faster than it’s coming in,” Isenor said.<\/p>\n Boston Globe<\/em> Article<\/a><\/p>\n