COVID surge leads BayCare to suspend elective surgeries at Pinellas, Pasco, Polk hospitals

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The hospital chain acts as surpasses 1,000 COVID patients in its 14 hospitals in the region.

BayCare Health System put a hold on all elective surgeries and procedures at it hospitals in Pinellas, Pasco and Polk counties as the surge in COVID-19 cases shows no sign of slowing down.

The hospital chain had already suspended some elective procedures across most of its Hillsborough hospitals in the past two weeks after the number of COVID-19 patients rose to more than 800, the highest since the pandemic began.

As of Thursday, the number of infected patients had risen to more than 1,000 patients across the company’s 14 hospitals in the Tampa Bay region and in Polk. That’s a 10-fold increase since the beginning of July, said BayCare Chief Operating Officer Glenn Waters.

“We’re making these operational adjustments to be sure we can continue providing safe, high-quality care to the recent influx of COVID patients in addition to hundreds of other people in our hospitals with unrelated, serious medical issues,” he said in a statement.

https://www.tampabay.com/news/health/2021/08/12/covid-surge-leads-baycare-to-suspend-elective-surgeries-at-pinellas-pasco-polk-hospitals/

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