BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — New York Governor Andrew Cuomo held a COVID-19 briefing Monday at Roswell Park in Buffalo.
During his briefing Cuomo announced all elective surgeries can now resume in Erie County.
All elective surgeries in Erie County were stopped in November 2020 due to an increased hospital capacity in the county.
"Elective surgeries had been stopped in Erie County because we wanted to make sure we had enough hospital capacity for that spike, that we now feel comfortable about, elective surgeries can start once again in Erie County," said Cuomo.
The governor said the 7-day average COVID-19 positivity rate in the county has decreased from 8.6% on January 7 to 5.2%, nearly three weeks of decline.
The daily hospitalizations of county residents has also decreased from 427 on December 31 to 323 with a hospital capacity of about 48%.
Robert J. Nesselbush, Kaleida Health’s CEO, released the following statement in regard to the announcement:
“On behalf of the entire Kaleida Health workforce and the patients that we serve, we want to thank Governor Cuomo for today’s announcement about the resumption of elective surgeries in Erie County. This will undoubtedly have a positive impact on patient care and outcomes, not to mention our operations and our overall financial position. The pandemic has had a catastrophic impact on the health care delivery system here in Buffalo, Western New York and across New York State. COVID-19 has also put tremendous stress on thousands of patients who have had to put their health on hold as we battled this crisis together. We are most happy for these patients, who can now receive the world-class health care that our employees and physicians are known for. The dedication and efforts of our front line workforce have been nothing short of heroic this past year.”
Eddie Bratko, President of Mercy Hospital of Buffalo released the following statement in regard to the resumption of elective surgeries in Catholic Health:
"The resumption of elective surgeries is good news for patients throughout Western New York and we thank Governor Cuomo for today’s announcement. Catholic Health has been meeting with our surgical chiefs and chairs throughout this latest suspension to plan for the eventual resumption of elective cases. We have a meeting scheduled for tomorrow to kick off our plan to resume elective surgeries quickly and safely. Our surgeons will be reaching out to patients in the coming days to schedule their procedures and pre-op testing, which includes a COVID test. Because of the testing required prior to surgery, it make take several days for the elective cases to begin. Fortunately, we have the necessary processes and procedures in place from when we resumed elective surgeries in the spring and expect this to be a smooth transition for our surgeons and patients."
