Jefferson City blood drive sees a high donor turnout

JEFFERSON CITY — The American Red Cross blood drive in Jefferson City saw a record number of donors at the Firley YMCA and Central United Church of Christ locations on Tuesday.

"It's been a tremendous turnout today, we're really pleased, more than normal than what we usually get for this drive," said External Communications Manager Joe Zydlo.

Zydlo said their goal was to collect 130 donations between the two locations.

"We've seen a rise in donors since mid-June... we need to continue to do that, we have an urgent need for all blood types," he said.

He added offering free antibody testing has helped increase donor turnout.

People have really stepped up... they want to get their antibody results so I'm sure that has something to do with that.

Zydlo said he hopes individuals who receive a positive result from their antibody test will come back to donate plasma.

"We have this emergency shortage of convalescent plasma. I just tell people if you do get an antibody test, it does come up positive, whether you were sick or not, meaning you were exposed I would hope people would want to come and donate plasma," he said.

Zydlo added that hospitals have requested for more convalescent plasma.

"Its working... our hospitals have basically increased the need by double, so we've doubled that need," he said.

When you donate your plasma it does help and it is saving lives.

Communications Director for the Department of Health and Senior Services Lisa Cox said in an email, 58,069 people have taken an antibody test, and 2,027 of those individuals have received a positive result.

She said the cumulative positive rate is 3.5 percent.

Cox said it's still unclear if you can get reinfected if you have antibodies.

Reinfection with SARS-CoV-2 has not yet been definitively confirmed in any recovered persons to date. If, and if so when, persons can be reinfected with SARS-CoV-2 remains unknown and is a subject of investigation.

Zydlo said they collect blood for 64 hospitals in the Missouri region, accumulating almost 600 donations daily.

"It's really roughly about you know anywhere from maybe 16,800 to 17,200 donations monthly in our region," he said.

Zydlo noted none of this would be possible if it weren't for people being willing to help those in need.

"We've had a great outpouring of support from the community," he said.

Click here, to learn more about convalescent plasma donations.

Click here, to learn more about scheduling a blood donation.