SCRANTON, Pa. — There were empty beds at the American Red Cross Blood Donation Center in Scranton Thursday. Employees said it was going to be a quiet day, with only a handful of appointments. But Gary Ceccarelli is there every eight weeks, regardless of the coronavirus.
"It was day 56, and I said I'm coming down, that's it. I didn't know if I was going to have to come down in a bubble or what, but it's really good down here, they're good," he said.
Ceccarelli did not have to come in a bubble, but employees at the blood donation center on Olive Street are taking extra precautions. They always take the temperature of a donor, but now, they are checking anyone who enters the building, even our news crew, and the American Red Cross spokesperson who showed up for our interview.
"If you think you have a cold or flu or anything else, we're asking those folks to stay home from donating blood at this point. But we do need, urgently, a lot of healthy blood donors to come out to maintain our critical blood supply," said spokesperson Dave Skutnik.
Employees say wiping down everything has become routine; they do it all day long. They have even separated the chairs in the lobby, and something that might have taken one wipe to clean just a few weeks ago, employees will now use three or four.
"That's standard stuff, people ought to be doing that anyway, it's a fact of life," said Sebastian J. Naro, Falls.
Employees at the American Red Cross say the coronavirus is not their only concern. It's the blood drives that are being canceled along with so many other events.
"To date, we've already seen 18 blood drives canceled across eastern PA, and we expect that number to climb," Skutnik said. "A lot of our larger blood drives tend to be at colleges and universities. We've seen a lot of those campuses closed this week, so those blood drives are quickly going away."
So American Red Cross officials say blood donation centers like this one will just have to do. And if you're healthy and haven't traveled to countries that are a concern, there's no reason not to donate right now.
"There is no evidence that coronavirus can be transmitted by donating blood or receiving a blood transfusion, so the process is absolutely safe," said Skutnik.
The blood donation center in Scranton is closed on Fridays but will be open all weekend.