A new health order requiring some hospitals to delay surgeries for non-life-threatening conditions was issued by the California Department of Public Health late Tuesday night.The new order is meant to ease the pressure on the state’s ICU system, and only applies when a county is in a region under the stay-at-home order that has no ICU availability and the state health department calculation of the ICU availability for that county is 10% or less. Both Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties fall into that category. “If we continue to see an alarming increase of COVID-19 patient admissions at hospitals statewide, some facilities may not be able to provide the critical and necessary care Californians need, whether those patients have COVID-19 or another medical condition,” said Dr. Tomás J. Aragón, CDPH director and state Public Health officer.CDPH said that within the last two weeks, COVID-19 hospitalizations have increased by 17%, and COVID-19 ICU admissions have also increased by 21%.Procedures that would be delayed under the order include carpal tunnel release and non-urgent spine surgery.Surgeries for patients who have serious and urgent medical conditions, like cancer removal and necessary heart surgeries, will continue.The order also requires hospitals to accept patient transfers from facilities that have implemented crisis care guidelines. That will allow overloaded hospitals to send patients to other hospitals that may have more ICU capability.As of Tuesday, ICU capacity in both the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California remained at 0%.CORRECTION (Jan. 6, 2020): This story has been updated to narrow the situations for when the order applies.
A new health order requiring some hospitals to delay surgeries for non-life-threatening conditions was issued by the California Department of Public Health late Tuesday night.
The new order is meant to ease the pressure on the state’s ICU system, and only applies when a county is in a region under the stay-at-home order that has no ICU availability and the state health department calculation of the ICU availability for that county is 10% or less. Both Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties fall into that category.
“If we continue to see an alarming increase of COVID-19 patient admissions at hospitals statewide, some facilities may not be able to provide the critical and necessary care Californians need, whether those patients have COVID-19 or another medical condition,” said Dr. Tomás J. Aragón, CDPH director and state Public Health officer.
CDPH said that within the last two weeks, COVID-19 hospitalizations have increased by 17%, and COVID-19 ICU admissions have also increased by 21%.
Procedures that would be delayed under the order include carpal tunnel release and non-urgent spine surgery.
Surgeries for patients who have serious and urgent medical conditions, like cancer removal and necessary heart surgeries, will continue.
The…
Go to the news source: CA health order delays nonessential surgeries in some counties to ease hospital …
