The American Red Cross declared a national blood crisis Monday, warning that its supply of type O positive blood has fallen below a one-day national inventory and that summer donations are running at their lowest level in four years. Type O accounts for roughly 60% of Red Cross blood distributions and is used in both routine care and emergency treatment. "The Red Cross takes its responsibility as the nation's largest single provider of blood products incredibly seriously and has worked tirelessly to strengthen the blood supply for our hospital partners," said Chris Hrouda, president of Red Cross Biomedical Services. "Following our first-ever national blood crisis in 2022, we put additional safeguards in place to help prevent a crisis like that from happening again. The declaration is the second national blood crisis in the organization's history.