Elective Surgeries Allowed Again in Parts of New York State

By: Jennifer Peltz, Marina Villeneuve & Michael Hill

Hospitals in parts of upstate New York will be able to conduct outpatient elective surgeries again, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday as he pledged to consider regional differences when re-opening the state’s outbreak-stalled economy.

Hospitals in selected counties can resume elective outpatient treatments April 28 if a capacity benchmark is met and there have been fewer than 10 new COVID-19 hospitalizations in the county over the past 10 days.

“We’re going to allow it in those hospitals and counties in the state that do not have a COVID issue or we wouldn’t need their beds in case of a surge,” Cuomo said at a briefing in Buffalo.

The hospital restrictions will remain in effect in hard-hit New York City, Long Island and suburban Westchester and Rockland counties, as well as in 10 upstate counties. Buffalo and Albany are in counties where the restrictions remain.

By Monday, more than 250,000 people in New York had tested positive for COVID-19 — a milestone figure that likely undercounts infected residents by a significant margin. People in New York City, a worldwide hotspot, were advised to seek testing only if they were ill enough to possibly require hospitalization.

Hospitalization trends are more encouraging, and the state is planning how to gradually ease up on outbreak restrictions.

Total statewide hospitalizations have slowly dropped to 16,076, more than 2,000 below a week ago. The state recorded 481 deaths Monday for a total of 14,828. It was the second straight day with under 500 fatalities.

As he plans for the re-opening, Cuomo said it was important to note that the outbreak hit regions of the state at different times and at different rates. Rural stretches of northern New York are facing “a totally different situation” than densely settled New York City.

“We operate as one state, but we also have to understand variations and you do want to get this economy opened as soon as possible,” he said. “And if the situation is radically different in one part of state than another part of the state, then take that into consideration.”

Cuomo appeared in Buffalo a day after protesters drove about 150 cars in the city’s downtown to call for an end to stay-at-home restrictions.

In contrast to overwhelmed New York City hospitals, some serving rural areas of the state have furloughed staff recently as revenue from elective procedures dried up.

In Buffalo, Catholic Health is losing about $30 million a month in revenue since drastically reducing elective procedures at its five western New York hospitals, President and Chief Executive Mark Sullivan said.

“It’s a huge burden on the health system but we can’t turn away from public safety and making sure that the plan going forward is appropriate,” Sullivan said by phone.

Only one of the system’s hospitals, Mount St. Mary’s Hospital in Niagara County, is outside an exclusion zone and administrators are looking at how to bring back elective treatments.

Other coronavirus developments in New York:

Cuomo headed to the White House on Tuesday to seek federal help with coronavirus testing.

Cuomo said he’ll use his Tuesday meeting with President Donald Trump to push for the federal government to help manufacturers get the chemicals and swabs needed for states to perform wide-scale testing.

            (Associated Press)