Keeping Blood Donors Safe From COVID-19

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles is experiencing a shortage of blood donors. We want you to know that the children in our care still need your generous blood and platelet donations, and we’re keeping donors safe in the process. We are collecting blood at our hospital, and at mobile blood drives as well.

What is Children’s Hospital Los Angeles doing to keep blood donors safe?

• We have reduced the number of donors we see by 50% to ensure proper physical distancing.
• All employees wear gloves, masks and other essential personal protective equipment.
• All staff and visitors over the age of 2 at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles are required to wear a mask at all times.
• All surfaces touched by donors and staff, including donor beds, computer equipment and review materials, are cleaned after every use.
• Hand sanitizer is available at each workstation.
• Donor beds and waiting room chairs have been arranged for proper physical distancing.
• Appointment times have been spaced to limit the number of donors in the Blood Donor Center at all times.
• All visitors are screened for symptoms of COVID-19 at the hospital’s entrance and at blood donor registration areas.
• Additional screening questions have been added during the donor health history interview.

Is there any reason I shouldn’t come in to donate?

Do not donate blood if:

• You have been diagnosed with or suspected of having COVID-19 in the past 28 days
• You have cared for, lived with, or otherwise had close contact with a person or people diagnosed with or suspected of having COVID-19 in the past 28 days.

How is Children’s Hospital Los Angeles protecting kids from getting COVID-19 through a blood transfusion?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the coronavirus is primarily transmitted person to person through respiratory droplets. No cases of coronavirus have been linked to blood transfusion or exposure, and no cases of transmission by blood transfusion were ever reported for SARS and MERS-CoV, two other coronaviruses that emerged during the past two decades. Routine blood donor screening measures that are already in place prevent individuals with symptoms or respiratory infections from donating blood.

I donated blood but now I think I have COVID-19. What do I do?

If you are diagnosed or suspected of having COVID-19 and have donated blood in the 28 days prior to disease onset/symptoms, please call the Blood Donor Center to let us know.

I recently recovered from COVID-19. Can I donate plasma?

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles is now accepting plasma donations from people who have recovered from COVID-19, called convalescent plasma, which may be used to help others fighting the illness. You can donate convalescent plasma if you:

• Have a prior diagnosis of COVID-19 with a positive SARS-CoV-2 test result
• Have been symptom-free and completely recovered for at least 28 days prior to donation
• Meet specific donor eligibility requirements and laboratory test criteria

If you meet these criteria, call the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Blood Donor Center at 323-361-2441 to make an appointment. A representative will follow up to confirm your eligibility.