The American Red Cross is putting out an urgent plea for blood donations as the state's supply suffers a severe shortage. Minnesotans can help by giving blood now to help prevent delays in patient care and to aid our neighbors suffering traumatic injuries.

The Red Cross is currently seeing blood supply levels at their lowest levels in a decade.

Healthy individuals are needed to donate now to help patients counting on lifesaving blood. More than 80% of the blood collected by the American Red Cross comes from blood drives, which haven't returned to pre-pandemic levels.

I'm donating at noon today at the St. Cloud Red Cross Donation Center on West Saint Germain. Who'd like to join me for juice & cookies? 😍

Donating blood is a safe process and people should not hesitate to give or receive blood. Watch this video on the safety and need for blood donations. Right now, eligible and healthy donors are strongly urged to make an appointment to give soon.

If you're type O, please make a blood donation or Power Red appointment ASAP: http://rcblood.org/appt

98.1 Minnesota's New Country logo
Get our free mobile app

This blood shortage could impact patients who need surgery, victims of car accidents and other emergencies, or patients fighting cancer. One of the most important things you can do to ensure we don’t have another health care crisis on top of coronavirus is to give now.

The U.S. Surgeon General says, “You can safely go out and give blood. We’re worried about potential blood shortages."

READ ON: See the States Where People Live the Longest

Stacker used data from the 2020 County Health Rankings to rank every state's average life expectancy from lowest to highest. The 2020 County Health Rankings values were calculated using mortality counts from the 2016-2018 National Center for Health Statistics. The U.S. Census 2019 American Community Survey and America's Health Rankings Senior Report 2019 data were also used to provide demographics on the senior population of each state and the state's rank on senior health care, respectively.

Read on to learn the average life expectancy in each state.

LOOK: Here are the pets banned in each state

Because the regulation of exotic animals is left to states, some organizations, including The Humane Society of the United States, advocate for federal, standardized legislation that would ban owning large cats, bears, primates, and large poisonous snakes as pets.

Read on to see which pets are banned in your home state, as well as across the nation.

More From 98.1 Minnesota's New Country