CLEVELAND — With COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations on the rise throughout the region, Cleveland Clinic officials have announced the hospital is extending its postponement of non-urgent surgeries that require a hospital bed in their Ohio locations to Friday, Dec. 31.
The postponement was originally set to run through Monday, Dec. 20.
Here’s the full statement that 3News received from the Cleveland Clinic on Friday morning:
We continue to be challenged by rising inpatient volumes and patients hospitalized with COVID-19 at our Ohio hospitals. In order to make additional beds available, we are extending the postponement of non-urgent surgeries requiring a hospital bed at our Ohio hospitals from Monday, Dec. 20, through Friday, Dec. 31, 2021.
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 heart, 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.
RELATED: Cuyahoga County now has highest COVID-19 case rate in state, according to Ohio Department of Health
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Just two weeks ago, the Cleveland Clinic released a joint statement with MetroHealth and University Hospitals to address the surge in COVID hospitalizations and their plan to begin postponing non-urgent surgeries.
“As we continue to navigate the pandemic and adjust to the changing healthcare needs of our patients, our health systems are seeing unprecedented demand for inpatient care across our facilities,” according to the joint statement from Dec. 3. “This has led to our hospitals reaching nearly full capacity at many locations. Our organizations are experiencing a significant increase in unvaccinated patients being hospitalized because of COVID-19.”