St. George and Cedar City hospitals among hospitals to postpone elective surgeries amid COVID-19 outbreak – St George News

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – Thirteen Utah hospitals – including St. George Regional Hospital and Cedar City Hospital – will postpone many elective surgeries from next week as health workers are overwhelmed by a further increase in cases of the faster-spreading delta variant COVID-19, a major health care company said on Friday.

Intermountain Healthcare has announced that hospitals will postpone elective procedures for several weeks from September 15. The announcement comes a week after leaders of public hospitals made emotional calls for vaccinations and universal masking to prevent the state’s continued COVID-19 outbreak.

St. George Regional Hospital spokesperson Terri Draper told St. George News St. George Regional Hospital and Cedar City Hospital are among those who will postpone elective surgeries . She said those scheduled for elective surgeries from September 15 will be contacted regarding the postponement.

The news follows a report of a record 15 deaths in five days in southern Utah, as previously reported by St. George News.

Hospital use in Utah is approaching its previous peak in December, when intensive care units were 104% full and 606 people were hospitalized. There were 516 people hospitalized with COVID-19 and intensive care units were 93% full on Thursday, state data showed.

About 62% of Utah residents aged 12 and older were fully immunized as of Thursday. Utah reported 10 new deaths from COVID-19 on Thursday, bringing the total since the start of the pandemic to 2,703.

Several Utah hospitals postponed elective surgeries at the start of the pandemic in 2020 to ease some of the pressure on health care networks.

St. George News contributed to this story.

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