Gov restricts surgeries as cases climb
Hospitals will temporarily curtail inpatient elective surgeries starting Friday as coronavirus cases “took off like a rocket” in the days after Thanksgiving, Gov. Charlie Baker announced, hinting that more COVID-19 restrictions could be coming.
Facing withering criticism from public health experts, Baker was pressed by reporters during his regular coronavirus briefing on Monday for more details on what additional restrictions might entail, but he refused to shed any light on what might be coming, saying only that he’d “have more to say about that soon.”
The announcement comes on the heels of a weekend where 10,000 new coronavirus cases were reported and less than a week after the Republican governor attempted to hush rumors of further shutdowns by saying no new restrictions were coming.
Thanksgiving gatherings — which Baker referred to as the “ultimate informal gathering” — appear to have fueled significant spread. The state’s test positivity rate jumped 55% since the holiday from just under 5% on Nov. 23 to 7.4% on Monday, according to Department of Public Health
data.
“In the five to seven days — which is the typical incubation period — after Thanksgiving, (cases) took off like a rocket,” Baker said.
The rapid increase in new positive cases correlates to an increase in hospitalizations, Baker said. As of Monday, there were 1,516 COVID-19 patients and 302 in intensive care. Hospitals across the state were 77% full, data show.
“We can’t afford to continue to strain the hospital system at this rate,” Baker continued.
Effective Friday, hospitals will “curtail elective procedures that can be safely postponed. This action will free up necessary staffing and beds,” Baker said.
Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association President Steve Walsh said hospitals had become “stretched yet again by an influx of COVID-positive patients,” but have worked to avoid large-scale shut
downs seen in the spring.
Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders clarified that the rollback “is not the blanket, across-the-board curtailment that we implemented in the first surge.” Ambulatory outpatient surgeries and procedures can — and should — continue, she said.
Dr. Eric Dickson, president and CEO of UMass Memorial Medical Group, who oversees the field hospital at Worcester’s DCU Center, said scaling back elective procedures is “the right decision” during a surge in cases with “no end in sight.”
“This will be worse than the first surge,” Dickson said. “Our current projection is that we’re going to end up with more hospitalized patients at one time during this surge than we did with the first.”
Dickson predicted rolling back inpatient elective procedures is the first in a series of tougher decisions the governor will be forced to make as cases continue to climb.
Dickson expects increases to continue through Feb. 1.