A TOTAL of 40 hospitals across New York state will need to stop non-essential, non-urgent elective procedures for at least two weeks, the state’s Department of Health has warned.
The reason is due to limited staffer patient bed capacity, according to the announcement.
“We will use every available tool to help ensure that hospitals can manage the Covid-19 winter surge,” said Acting State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett. “I want to remind New Yorkers that getting vaccinated and boosted remain the best way to protect against serious illness and hospitalization from Covid-19. Vaccination also protects our hospital system. We cannot return to the early months of the pandemic when hospitals were overwhelmed.”
Some of the hospitals on the list are:
Cattaraugus County
- Olean General Hospital, Olean
Chautauqua County
- Brooks-TLC Hospital, Dunkirk
Erie County
- Bertrand Chaffee Hospital, Springville
- Erie County Medical Center, Buffalo
- Mercy Hospital of Buffalo, Buffalo
- Sisters of Charity Hospital, Buffalo
Genesee County
- United Memorial Medical Center, Batavia
Niagara County
- Mount St. Mary’s Hospital and Health Center, Lewiston
Orleans County
- Medina Memorial hospital, Medina
Wyoming County
- Wyoming County Community Hospital, Warsaw
Earlier this week it was announced pediatric hospitalizations for Covid-19 increased eight-fold in New York state from early December to late month, with the vast majority of those kids unvaccinated with the situation worsening in early January.
In the week ending January 1, there were 571 pediatric Covid hospitalizations statewide, the New York State Department of Health said, up from 70 just weeks previously.
Of those admitted, 91 per cent of kids ages 5-11 were unvaccinated, as well as 65 per cent of kids ages 12 to 17.
In New York City alone, Covid hospitalizations in those 18 and under increased 17-fold, more than double the growth rate for the population as a whole, according to the report.
