New York Hospitals Cease Elective Surgeries

Now that the new COVID-19 variant omicron has made an appearance in Canada, New York Governor Kathy Hochul gave a briefing yesterday to address upcoming concerns. Since there is a concern of a holiday surge, Hochul and the New York Department of Health instructed hospitals to limit non-essential surgeries to ensure capacity. This cease will begin on December 3rd where short-staffed hospitals will cease elective surgeries until they have adequate staffing- or until January 15th, when the order will be reevaluated.

Governor Hochul stated: “We have some ways to defend against this”, she said. “We are not defenseless like we were one year ago. And we all know exactly what has to happen. We know it’s an issue that we’re grappling with right now. The world is paying attention to this. So we’re monitoring it globally, we’re monitoring here in New York State.”

Source: 13 WHAM