Kaiser Permanente announced that it is postponing “elective and non-urgent surgeries and procedures” until January 4 at its northern California hospitals, as an increase in COVID-19 cases continues to fill hospital rooms and ICUs.
Other bay-area hospitals, including Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose and John Muir Medical Center in Concord and Walnut Creek, have issued similar statements. Sutter Health, which operates hospitals and surgical centers in Berkeley, Antioch and Burlingame, has made no formal announcement, but is closely monitoring the situation, a spokesman said on Monday.
On Christmas Day, California surpassed 2 million cases of coronavirus as the country continued a weekend of family reunions that could worsen the worst pandemic increase to date. On Sunday, the Bay Area’s ICU capacity was 11.1%.
The John Muir Medical Center is canceling and rescheduling elective surgeries until January 10 in its operating rooms and cardiac catheterization labs that require a hospital bed for inpatients.
“Rescheduling all surgeries and elective procedures allows us greater flexibility with personnel resources to relocate them to the areas of our hospitals where they are most needed, as we continue to see an increase in patients with COVID-19,” the statement said.
The discontinued Kaiser procedures do not include cancer cases, presumed cancer cases or other urgent surgeries and procedures, “as well as any situation where postponing surgery would have a negative impact on the patient’s medical condition, including pain,” Kaiser Permanente confirmed in a statement emailed to San Jose Mercury News.