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Providence Says It Will Limit Some Elective Surgeries While Covid Case Counts Are High

Courtesy of Providence Health Care

Providence Health Care says it’s postponing some elective surgeries to preserve resources in case they’re needed to treat Covid patients.

The provider says it is making this move to make sure it has the capacity to care for all patients, not just those with the coronavirus.

Interim Spokane County Health Officer Frank Velazquez says Providence may be looking ahead to a possible Thankgiving-related surge.

“The most significant impact of a Covid patient is not necessarily the number of patients, though that’s very important. These patients tend to be more resource-intensive for the hospitals because of the care that they require and also the full PPE, putting on and taking off. All the steps they have to follow to prevent contagion makes it the kind of patient who needs a lot of resources than the average patient with a respiratory distress," he said.

Providence says it will review procedures on a case-by-case basis for the time being and work with patients to reschedule surgeries.

Meanwhile, health district officials say recent restrictions imposed by Governor Jay Inslee may be starting to show results.

“Our case rate per hundred-thousand is 800, as of today. But the last time we looked at that rate, it was 825, so that should be an encouragement to all of us to continue to move forward with contact tracing and communicating with each other about any exposures," said Susan Sjoberg, the epidemiology program manager at the Spokane Regional Health District.

Sjoberg says the health district has adjusted its contact tracing and investigation protocols as a result of the high volume of cases. It is still contacting people who have tested positive, but it is also asking them to do some of the communication with close contacts to ensure those people are tested.

The health district reported 275 new cases on Wednesday. 127 people are in the hospital, 94 of whom are Spokane County residents.

Velazquez says that high number has Providence considering whether to postpone some elective surgeries on a case-by-case basis. That would allow the hospitals to deploy some of their resources on the more intensive work of caring for Covid patients.