Gov. Pritzker asks hospitals to postpone nonemergency surgeries, hold beds for COVID-19 patients

Gov. JB Pritzker asked Illinois hospital leaders Thursday to postpone all nonemergency surgeries and to prepare for a potential shortage of intensive care unit beds because of a surge of new COVID-19 cases.

The state announced a single-day state record 30,386 new confirmed and probable cases earlier Thursday, and the number of COVID-19 patients in the hospital has surged to 5,689, the most since Dec. 1, 2020. The state’s record for hospitalized COVID-19 patients is 6,175, set in November 2020.

A news release from the governor’s office said hospitals “should continue to follow the Illinois Department of Public Health’s guidance on when to consider postponing elective surgeries and procedures that physicians believe can be rescheduled without risking patient harm.” Some hospitals already have delayed nonemergency procedures to increase capacity.

“We are preparing for a continuing post-holiday surge, and with hospital staff already working so hard, I appreciate the work hospital leadership is doing to assure capacity, including postponing nonemergency surgeries and procedures to ensure their ability to handle serious COVID cases and other emergencies without putting patients at risk,” Pritzker said in the release. “To all Illinoisans: Please understand that the nation is experiencing high COVID transmission rates, and some surgeries in Illinois will be postponed. We’re asking our residents to temporarily hold off on important medical care like tonsillectomies, bariatric surgeries and hernia repair. As we work to keep ICU beds open, I continue to applaud the efforts of our hospitals and health care workers across the state, who have been heroes for us all.”

IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said the state currently is seeing about 500 new hospital admissions a day because of COVID-19, and about 90% of those patients are unvaccinated.

“There is a health care worker shortage in Illinois, in the U.S. and across the world. We’re seeing health care workers leave the profession because they are burnt out after watching people suffer severe illness and even death for almost two years now,” Ezike said in a news release. “We want to make sure that there is a hospital bed available for anyone for any reason – cancer complications, appendicitis, stroke, heart attack, car crash or COVID-19. Please get vaccinated and get boosted, for all of us.”

The Illinois Health and Hospital Association supported Pritzker’s proposal to halt elective surgeries.

“I want to thank Gov. Pritzker for his continued partnership and collaboration with the hospital community during this pandemic,” AJ Wilhelmi, president and CEO of the Illinois Health and Hospital Association, said in a news release. “The overwhelming majority of the 5,000 COVID patients currently in our hospitals are unvaccinated. Hospitals cannot end this pandemic on their own. They need the continuing help and support of the public. The best way to support your hospitals is to get vaccinated.”