Organ donations have decreased significantly amid the COVID-19 pandemic due to less traffic accident-related deaths and other circumstances.
According to the Colorado Sun, car accidents have dropped significantly since the beginning of stay-at-home orders due to the coronavirus pandemic. In California, the number of traffic-related deaths has been cut in half and drowning deaths dropped 80 percent. The United Network for Organ Sharing said in a statement that deaths from car accidents amount up to 33% in organ donations and are the biggest source.
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Nohemi Jiminez is one of the people awaiting an organ donation but she says the pandemic has caused her to wait longer for a kidney transplant: “I don’t want to be mean, but I was like, ‘Oh, my God. Nobody’s going to die. I’m not going to get my transplant.”
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It has also been noted in the report that there has been a decrease in emergency room visits due to COVID-19 and this could be another contributing factor to the lack of organ donations. Patients who have been infected with COVID-19 have offered to donate their organs but they were declined due to the fear of infecting recipients.