Hospitals Plan To Restart Non-Coronavirus Procedures, But Risk Of Infections Hovers Like A Dark Cloud

The Wall Street Journal: Hospitals Aim To Resume Procedures Postponed By Coronavirus
Hospitals, clinics and surgery centers are moving tentatively to resume surgeries and other procedures that were halted when the coronavirus pandemic reached the U.S., a shift that could help stanch the sector’s financial losses but presents new risks to infection control and public health. (Evans and Gold, 4/22)

San Francisco Chronicle: Gov. Newsom Says California Hospitals Can Begin Scheduling Essential Surgeries After Halt Due To Coronavirus 
Gov. Gavin Newsom took his first small step toward loosening a month-old statewide stay-at-home order Wednesday, allowing hospitals to begin scheduling some elective surgeries again. But he cautioned that California would not be ready to end restrictions on other sectors of the economy without a massive increase in testing to track the spread of the coronavirus, despite growing pressure for him to provide a timeline for a broader reopening of the state. His comments came on a day California recorded the most deaths in a 24-hour-period: 118, according to data collected by The Chronicle from the state’s 58 counties. (Koseff, 4/22)

Houston Chronicle: Houston Hospitals To Start Phasing Back More Non-COVID-19 Care 
Most Texas Medical Center hospital systems Wednesday will begin phasing in more care of people with ailments not involving the coronavirus, a tacit acknowledgment they now feel equipped to handle COVID-19 and can’t overlook the community’s other health needs. The resumption of some such care follows Gov. Greg Abbott’s order last Friday relaxing restrictions he’d placed on non-urgent elective surgeries a month ago and that medical center hospitals, among others, had imposed on themselves a few days earlier. (Ackerman, 4/22)