Cleveland Clinic Florida postpones non-urgent surgeries and adjusts its hospital visit guidelines amid a surge in COVID-19 cases.
The new policy applies to non-urgent surgeries that require a hospital bed, and surgeries and procedures at outpatient centers are not postponed, the hospital group announced Thursday.
“Our hospitals and emergency departments remain open to serve our community,” the statement read. “Essential and urgent surgeries, as well as cancer and transplant surgeries, will continue to be scheduled during this period.”
Starting this week, Cleveland Clinic Florida hospitals will also move from the orange tier to the red tier in visiting guidelines, meaning that one visitor age 18 and over per day will be allowed for patients in the emergency department and one visitor 18 years of age or older per day will be allowed for hospitalized patients who are COVID-19 positive or negative.
All visitors must be at least 18 years of age, wear a mask at all times, pass a COVID-19 health exam, and sanitize their hands upon arrival.
“Visiting our loved ones is important to our patients. While we continue to manage large numbers of patients at our facilities, we have protocols that allow more people to visit, while protecting our patients and caregivers,” the statement reads. statement from Cleveland Clinic Florida. .
Earlier this week, Holy Cross Health in Fort Lauderdale announced that they would be temporarily closing their maternity ward due to staff shortages related to the rise in COVID-19.
On Wednesday, Florida reported nearly 60,000 new cases of COVID-19 to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Last week, Florida broke multiple records for the number of cases reported in a single day since the pandemic began in March 2020, reaching nearly 76,000 new cases on New Year’s Eve.
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