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San Diego man reaches blood donation milestone

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SAN DIEGO, Calif. (KERO) — As blood banks hit critically low levels, one California man has reached a major milestone in giving the gift of life.

David Carroll reached his 100-gallon blood donation on Tuesday. He says he'll start his next 100 within the next couple of weeks. Carroll has been donating blood and platelets since 1990.

Many centers have recently reported having less than one day's supply.

The crisis has been driven by surging COVID cases, canceled blood drives, staffing issues, and concerns over whether it's safe to donate when you're eligible.

"It's very safe to donate blood right now? You cannot contract COVID from blood donation you can't even contract COVID if you were to get a blood transfusion from someone who has COVID it's a respiratory virus and respiratory viruses are not transmittable through blood donation," said Claudine Van Gonka from the San Diego Blood Bank.