COVID-19 Prompts Delay Of Elective Surgeries At Cleveland Clinic

CLEVELAND — Due to the revived surge of COVID-19 in northern Ohio, the Cleveland Clinic is postponing all elective surgeries scheduled between now and Dec. 17.

"We continue to see rapidly increasing inpatient volumes and patients hospitalized with COVID-19 across our Ohio hospitals. In-order to make additional beds available, we are now postponing scheduled nonessential surgeries requiring a hospital bed at Ohio hospitals, with the exception of Lutheran Hospital," the Cleveland Clinic said in a statement.

All postponed surgeries will be rescheduled for a later date.

Essential and urgent surgeries will continue as scheduled. Outpatient surgeries that do not require the use of a hospital bed will also be allowed to move forward.

"We will continue to evaluate our scheduled surgical patients as the pandemic continues," the Cleveland Clinic said. "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."

Southwest General Hospital in Middleburg Heights recently delayed all nonessential surgeries at its facility. Nearly every major hospital system in northern Ohio has updated its visitation policies.