New York hospitals cancel elective surgeries as COVID-19 rate hits 6%

New York City’s public hospital system quietly suspended elective surgeries earlier this week to free up space for coronavirus patients as test positivity rates and the number of new cases continue to rise officials revealed Thursday.

The move came on Tuesday as the city’s average positivity rate continued to climb. That rate hit 6% for the first time since May on Thursday and Mayor Bill de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo warned they could order additional lockdowns by the end of the holidays if the new rush COVID-19 case did not. slow down.

“The virus continues to challenge us, the infection rate continues to rise in this city, hospitalizations continue to increase,” de Blasio said Thursday.

“We have a serious problem here.”

Health + Hospitals Corporation chief Dr Mitch Katz also said Gotham’s 11 public hospitals have transferred more than 100 coronavirus patients to other facilities with more space to prevent sites from being overwhelmed by the initial influx.

“We have made it clear that the only surgeries we will do are those where they happen on an urgent basis, such as car accidents or surgeries where a person’s health is directly infected – such as when someone has an infection,” added the head of the hospital. .

He added that the public hospital system had started planning to stop elective surgery over the weekend and put them on hold as of Tuesday.

However, a spokesperson for H&H said Thursday evening that the state has since updated its capacity criteria for the coronavirus, allowing the public hospital system to resume elective procedures for now.

Overall, about two-thirds of intensive care and traditional hospital beds are currently full.

The revelations came as statistics from the city’s health department revealed that the seven-day average positivity rate for coronaviruses administered in the five boroughs continued to climb, hitting 6% for the first time since May .

And officials said the city now averages more than 2,700 new cases of COVID-19 every day.

“We have a long way to go and everyone has to be part of a turnaround,” de Blasio said.

Cuomo echoed those sentiments in the upstate Thursday morning when asked about the increased number of cases at a blizzard press conference, where he again pleaded with the New Yorkers not to travel or congregate in large groups indoors while on vacation.

“We want to slow the spread, we want to avoid closures and together we can do it,” the governor said.

“How do you slow down the spread?” Cuomo continued. “We’re smart during the holiday season.”