Cleveland Clinic To Continue Postponing Surgeries Due To COVID-19 Surge

CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Clinic will continue to postpone certain nonessential surgeries through at least the end of January due to the COVID-19 surge.

The hospital system said its still seeing rising numbers of "COVID-19 cases, high inpatient capacity and staffing challenges" prompting the decision to further postpone surgeries requiring an inpatient bed and all nonessential outpatient surgeries at Ohio hospitals.

The postponement does not include ambulatory surgery centers or ambulatory endoscopy centers, the hospital system said in a statement.

"Essential, urgent or emergent surgeries, or those in need of surgery for cancer or transplant, will continue to be scheduled during this period. We will evaluate our scheduled surgical patients as the pandemic continues," the hospital system said.

There are more than 6,700 Ohioans currently hospitalized with COVID-19, according to the state hospital association. Ohio is averaging more than 17,000 new COVID-19 cases and 330 COVID-19 hospitalizations per day. The vast majority of hospitalized COVID-19 patients are unvaccinated, the Cleveland Clinic said.

"We urge our communities to take precautions and receive their COVID-19 vaccine, as the majority of our patients hospitalized with COVID-19 are unvaccinated," the hospital system added.