Sounds like something you should test rather that just rely on heuristics

otherme123 a day ago | parent | next [-]

Tests cost money. They have blood enough to allow them to discriminate. If they were lacking, they will be less picky: in a catastrophic event they call for blood donors and they rely on tests, risking a detection window.

But under normal conditions, letting only the best candidates donate is the most efficient way.

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tristor a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Heuristics work, why would you not rely on heuristics?

	▲	jolmg 19 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Generally, because they're discriminatory. It's like how racial profiling in law enforcement can be a heuristic that can work. Though, in the case of blood donations, it seems that tests aren't accurate enough to be able to rely solely on them. Also, being discriminated against on being able to donate blood is not as big of a deal. Though in some places with public health systems, stuff like getting a surgery may somewhat depend on you and family/friends donating a certain amount of blood.

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lotsofpulp a day ago | parent | prev [-]

Sounds like something you should evaluate with a cost/benefit analysis, including the false negative and false positive rates.