Call for blood donors in Orlando gets huge response

ORLANDO - OneBlood, a foundation that operates blood bank collection centers throughout the southeastern United States, put out a call Sunday for donors with O-negative, O-positive and AB blood following the mass shooting but had such a staggering response that it asked others to wait.

Volunteers posted pictures Sunday on social media of long lines at numerous OneBlood locations throughout the country and the organization said it has extending hours at many.

Foundation spokesman Pat Michaels said the response so far has been 'overwhelming, especially here in central Florida.”

Michaels said that while he urged people with O-negative, O-positive and AB plasma blood to donate immediately, OneBlood is asking people with other types of blood to 'please hold on until we can assess what else we need.”

'We have hundreds of people showing up to our locations,” he said. 'We understand the sentiment that people want to help and that giving blood is a profound way to help, but we are asking those who have other blood types to give us some space for now.”

While many people sharing the call on social media have reported that OneBlood is allowing all men who have sex with men to donate - going against Food and Drug Administration guidelines - Michaels said that's not true.

He said OneBlood is continuing to adhere to the long-standing federal restriction on gay men from donating blood. Although the FDA recently updated its guidelines to allow men who have not had sex with another man within a year's time to donate blood, Michaels said OneBlood's system hasn't been updated to allow that just yet, but it will happen later this year.

Earlier this year, health officials in the United States and abroad urged anyone who had traveled to areas most affected by the Zika virus - list that is growing almost daily - to wait a month before giving blood.