LEE COUNTY, Fla. — Lee Health is temporarily suspending some elective procedures due to the high numbers of COVID-19 cases.
Officials say procedures that require an overnight stay that can be postponed without causing patient harm are being rescheduled or not scheduled.
Patients who need an elective outpatient surgery and who will go home the same day are not impacted by this change.
"We understand this decision may be disappointing news for our patients, but it is necessary to safely manage our hospitals at a time when COVID-19 is spreading rapidly throughout our community, placing an extraordinary demand on our ability to manage our hospital bed capacity."
Lee Health said, "We will reevaluate this change when the number of COVID patients begins to decline."
Here are the latest numbers from Lee Health:
· As of this morning, 220 COVID-19 patients were isolated in the hospital.
· Of these patients, 6 of them are being treated at Golisano Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida.
· This morning, the hospital census was at 96% of staffed operational bed capacity.
· Yesterday, Lee Health emergency departments saw 984 patients.
· Yesterday, Lee Convenient Care saw 482 patients
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