The recent spike in COVID-19 illnesses and the need for quarantining for both donors and staff has affected blood supply for Canadian Blood Services. Mike Choi (choy) with CBS Donor Relations and Collections, says new and returning donors are needed to support patients through the Omicron wave.

Choi says when you add in the extreme cold and the blizzard  last week, those things have also affected donations. Normally Canadian Blood Services has five to eight days of supply on hand for each blood type, but right now there is less than four days worth for O (oh) positive and O negative blood.

Since the pandemic began, the number of donors across Canada has been steadily declining. Choi says one in two Canadians are eligible to donate, but only one in 81 does.

He considers the regulars a small but very necessary group of Canadians and Choi hopes more people will choose to donate. You can go to blood.ca to find a donation event nearest you.  The Saskatoon donor centre is open Tuesday to Saturday.  In Saskatoon, nearly 800 appointments are ready to be filled this month and 1500 in March.