3 Blood Drives In Basking Ridge Amid Red Cross's Urgent Need

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — Winter storms and extreme cold across the county had a "significant" impact on blood and platelet donations, according to the American Red Cross. But Basking Ridge can help.

The Red Cross will hold three blood drives in town:

• March 7: 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., St. James Roman Catholic Church, 184 S. Finley Ave.
• March 9: 1-6 p.m., Somerset Hills YMCA, 140 Mount Airy Rd.
• March 10, 2-7 p.m., St. Mark's Episcopal Church, 140 S. Finley Avenue

The Red Cross has urged people to make appointments by downloading the Red Cross Blood Donor App, visiting RedCrossBlood.org, calling 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or enabling the Blood Donor Skill on any Alexa Echo device.

Winter storms and cold weather forced hundreds of blood drives throughout the country to cancel, according to the Red Cross. The cancellations have impacted about 20,000 blood, platelet and convalescent-plasma donations in February.

More than 3,000 donations have gone uncollected because of about 80 blood-drive cancellations in New Jersey, Delaware and southeastern Pennsylvania this month.

The Red Cross is testing blood, platelet and plasma donations for COVID-19 antibodies. The test may indicate whether the donor's immune system has produced enough antibodies to the coronavirus, regardless of whether the donor has exhibited symptoms.

Convalescent plasma is a type of blood donation collected from COVID-19 survivors that have antibodies that may help patients who are actively fighting the virus. Plasma from whole blood donations that test positive for high levels of COVID-19 antibodies may be used to help COVID-19 patients.

Red Cross blood drives and donations centers follow coronavirus protocols such as temperature checks, social distancing and requiring face coverings for donors and staff.

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