ST. LOUIS — Several St. Louis area hospitals will reschedule certain elective surgeries due to the increasing community spread of COVID-19.
BJC HealthCare announced beginning on Nov. 9, Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Christian Hospital, Memorial Hospital Belleville and Missouri Baptist Medical Center will reschedule certain elective surgical procedures that require an inpatient or overnight bed and that can be postponed safely.
This comes as the hospitalization data in the St. Louis area continues to trend in the wrong direction. On Wednesday, the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force said new hospital admissions decreased, but numbers still remain above what the task force considers its red zone.
A spokesperson from BJC HealthCare said the measures will remain in place until at least Nov. 20 and then it will review its current staffing and patient volumes to assess ongoing needs.
Elective surgeries at BJC were canceled back in March at the beginning of the pandemic.
On Wednesday, Missouri reported nearly 2,600 new cases of COVID-19, which is the seventh consecutive day the state reported more than 2,000 new cases.
