CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Clinic announced Thursday that due to coronavirus concerns, it has postponed nonessential surgeries requiring a hospital bed until next year. The move comes during a surge of cases in Ohio and across the country.
"In order to make additional beds available, we are extending the postponement of non-urgent surgeries requiring a hospital bed at our Ohio hospitals through Jan. 14, 2022," the clinic said. "It is important to understand that our hospitals and emergency departments remain open to care for our community. Essential and urgent surgeries, as well as cancer, pediatric and transplantation surgeries, and outpatient surgeries not requiring a hospital bed will continue to be scheduled during this time period. We will continue to evaluate our scheduled surgical patients as the pandemic continues. We continue to urge our communities to take precautions and receive their COVID-19 vaccine, as the majority of our patients hospitalized with COVID-19 are unvaccinated."
Earlier this month, the Cleveland Clinic postponed nonessential surgeries until Dec. 17 due to the rising cases of COVID-19.
Thursday's announcement coincided with the highest number of COVID cases Ohio has seen since the pandemic began. Nearly 16,000 new cases of coronavirus were reported in the last 24 hours.
RELATED: Ohio Department of Health reports 15,989 new COVID cases, highest 'true' daily count so far
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