CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Clinic announced Friday that it is postponing all nonessential inpatient surgeries in Ohio until next year.
According to the hospital system, surgeries deemed nonessential that require a hospital or ICU bed have been postponed from Dec. 7 through Jan. 4.
This goes for all Ohio Cleveland Clinic locations except Lutheran Hospital. According to Cleveland Clinic, Lutheran Hospital serves a "a unique population of patients for behavioral health and orthopedic services," which the hospital is able to continue to serve.
“We are currently experiencing the highest volume of patients with COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. With these steps, we are proactively making more beds available to accommodate what we anticipate will be a continued increase in COVID-19 patients needing hospitalization,” Cleveland Clinic said in a statement.
During the blackout period, all nonessential outpatient surgeries will still continue. The Ambulatory Surgery Centers (ASCs) and Ambulatory Endoscopy Surgery Centers (AECs) will remain open except for Marymount ASC.
The hospital system said it will monitor its surgical schedules and reevaluate them as time goes by.
“We encourage everyone to help keep our community safe and help limit the spread of the virus by remaining vigilant in wearing masks, social distancing, and washing your hands.”
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