BACKGROUND The first coronavirus (COVID‐19) case was reported in United States in the state of Washington, approximately 3 months after the outbreak in Wuhan, China. Three weeks later, the US federal government declared the pandemic a national emergency. The number of confirmed COVID‐19 positive cases increased rather rapidly and changed routine daily activities of the community. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS This brief report describes the response from the hospital, the regional blood center, and the hospital‐based transfusion services to the events that took place in the community during the initial phases of the pandemic. RESULTS In Washington State, the first week of March started with four confirmed cases and ended with 150; by the end of the second week of March there were more than 700 cases of confirmed COVID‐19. During the first week, blood donations dropped significantly. Blood units provided from blood centers of nonaffected areas of the country helped keep inventory stable and allow for routine hospital operations. The hospital‐based transfusion service began prospective triaging of blood orders to monitor and prioritize blood usage. In the second week, blood donations recovered, and the hospital postponed elective procedures to ensure staff and personal protective equipment were appropriate for the care of critical patients. CONCLUSION As community activities are disrupted and hospital activities switch from routine operations to pandemic focused and urgent care oriented, the blood supply and usage requires a number of transformations.

Massive transfusion protocol activations were frequent and conducted with high fidelity to the 1:1:1 unit ratio standard. Making blood components available quickly was associated with low rates of total component usage and low mortality for trauma patients and was not associated with overuse.

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HMC successfully transitioned to an HBTS, providing world-class primary transfusion support to a level 1 trauma center. Near-term benefits in patient care, education, and research resulted. Blood support became faster, safer, and cheaper.

BACKGROUND Platelet inventory constraints can result in minor ABO incompatibility and possible hemolysis. The aims of this study were to determine the reduction of isoagglutinin in titers of platelets stored in additive solution (PAS) and compare its safety, efficiency, and cost‐effectiveness with full‐volume and plasma‐reduced platelets. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS Isoagglutinin titers were performed in paired whole blood donor samples and apheresis platelets collected in PAS (PAS‐PLT) aliquot samples by the tube method. RESULTS A total of 149 pairs of donor/platelet samples were tested: 75 group O, 59 group A, and 15 group B. For group O donor samples, the median anti‐A IgG and IgM were 64 and 16, respectively, and the median anti‐B IgG and IgM were 64 and 16, respectively. For group O PAS‐PLT samples the mean anti‐A IgG and IgM, and anti‐B IgG and IgM were 32 and 8, and 16 and 8, respectively. For group A donor samples, the mean anti‐B IgG and IgM was 8 in both cases; and both titers decreased to 2 in PAS‐PLT. For group B donor samples, mean anti‐A IgG and IgM was 16 in both cases; and both titers decreased to 4 in PAS‐PLT. PAS‐PLT demonstrated a net reduction in cost and improved efficiency when compared to plasma reduction. The use of PAS‐PLT resulted in a 40% reduction of allergic transfusion reactions. CONCLUSION The use of PAS decreases plasma isoagglutinin titers, transfusion reactions, and is cost‐effective when compared to routine plasma reduction as a strategy to mitigate hemolysis risk from minor incompatible platelet transfusion.