Nebraska Community Blood Bank tests for COVID antibodies Blood donations have been low during the pandemic and last updated 2021-01-15 09:35:56-05 OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) â Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, blood drives have been less frequent. Representatives from the Nebraska Community Blood Bank say those drives usually account for nearly half of the blood donated in a usual year. The pandemic and less frequent donations have caused their supply to be unstable. "Once the pandemic began and blood drives were, for the most part, shut down, it dramatically decreased the amount of blood coming in and keeping our supply stable," says Kari Lundeen, community outreach representative for Nebraska Community Blood Bank.