Hudson Valley Coronavirus: Some Elective Surgeries

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — Many hospitals in upstate New York will be able to re-open for elective surgery, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced at his daily briefing Tuesday. The easing of restrictions will not, however, help most hospitals in the lower Hudson Valley, where the new coronavirus outbreak continues.

Cuomo said the change was needed because some hospitals in communities with few cases of COVID-19 have started layoffs. Eastern Niagara Hospital in Lockport and Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center have furloughed workers, the Buffalo News reported.

However, the governor specifically excluded hospitals in Dutchess, Orange, Rockland and Westchester counties. According to the state health department's data, on April 19 Westchester had 503 new cases confirmed, Orange had 103, Dutchess had 44 and Rockland had 93.

Not excluded were two other Hudson Valley counties: Ulster, which had 23 new cases and Putnam County had seven, according to state health department data.

Elective outpatient treatments can resume there, as in other counties and hospitals without significant risk of COVID-19 surge in the near term, given certain restrictions.

Hospitals will be able to resume performing elective outpatient treatments on April 28, if the hospital capacity is over 25 percent for the county and if there have been fewer than 10 new hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients in the county over the past 10 days. If a hospital is located in a county eligible to resume elective outpatient treatments, but that hospital has a capacity under 25 percent or has had more than 10 new hospitalizations in the past 10 days, that hospital is not eligible to resume elective surgeries. If a county or hospital that has resumed elective surgery experiences a decrease in hospital capacity below the 25 percent threshold or an increase of 10 or more new hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients, elective surgeries must cease. Further, patients must test negative for COVID-19 prior to any elective outpatient treatment. The State Department of Health will issue guidance on resuming elective surgeries.

Cuomo as usual included a personal story in his briefing, describing the wave of guilt he felt watching the news with his daughters, who pointedly remarked on how smart Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan was to buy test kits from South Korea.

"I get the instinct to distance yourself," he said about his pending trip to the White House. "But from my point of view, I think the federal government has to take on the supply chain issue."

Governors are already taking on all the responsibility for getting the testing done and analyzed and for tracing back contacts of people infected with the virus, as they were told to do by the Trump administration, he pointed out. "Don't make me look bad to my family and my state."