Kaiser cites virus in hold on elective surgeries

Elective surgeries have been postponed at Kaiser Permanente San Rafael Medical Center because of the surge in coronavirus hospitalizations.

“Given the impact of COVID-19 on health care systems, we have postponed elective and non urgent surgeries and procedures that take place in our main hospital operating rooms through January 4 at our Northern California facilities,” Michelle Gaskill- Hames, Kaiser’s senior vice president for health plan and hospital operations, wrote in an email.

“We are not postponing cancer cases or other urgent/ surgeries and procedures,” Gaskill-Hames added.

Elsewhere in Marin, officials at MarinHealth Medical Center and Novato Community Hospital said Monday that surgeries there will proceed.

Jamie Maites, a spokeswoman for MarinHealth, wrote in an email, “As of this time, MarinHealth Medical Center is not postponing any surgeries or procedures.”

Maites added, “Patients are admitted and discharged throughout the day, which is why we assess capacity nearly every hour.”

Ashley Boarman, a spokeswoman for Sutter Health, wrote in an email Monday, “Current volume at Novato Community Hospital has not required activation of the hospital’s surge plan, which, if activated, can include measures such as temporarily postponing some procedures that can safely be postponed.

“Novato Community Hospital continues to carefully monitor the data and will adjust operations accordingly to continue providing access to care while managing staffing, resources and capacity.”

Gaskill-Hames wrote that Kaiser is “keeping a close eye on ICU bed volume, which fluctuates.”

Kaiser’s San Rafael medical center is licensed to operate 12 intensive care unit beds and 104 medical/surgical beds. MarinHealth is licensed to operate 27 ICU beds and 261 medical/surgical beds. Novato Community Hospital is licensed for four ICU beds and 39 medical/surgical beds.

Until recently, Marin County health officials had estimated that local hospitals were staffed to operate a total of only 29 ICU beds. Now, hospital administrators say they have the ability to increase staffing to operate more.

As of Monday, the county reported 24 people hospitalized in Marin with coronavirus, and eight of them occupied an ICU bed.

Statewide, more than 19,750 patients were hospitalized

with confirmed cases of the virus in California as of Monday, including 4,228 treated in intensive care units. Both totals are now officially more than double the peak observed during the summer surge, when about 7,200 were hospitalized with 2,050 in intensive care.

The Bay Area had 9.5% of its ICU beds available through Monday.