California hospitals will be allowed to resume non-emergency surgeries in the first significant loosening in the state’s stay-at-home order to slow the spread of coronavirus.
The change covers surgeries that are not emergencies. Gov. Gavin Newsom says examples include procedures for tumors, heart valves and chronic disease. Purely cosmetic surgeries are still banned.
Newsom says state officials will be monitoring hospitals closely to make sure they are not overwhelmed. If there is a surge of coronavirus cases, the scheduled surgery ban could be put back in place.
The state will work with hospitals and health care systems to schedule procedures like tumor removals and vital organ replacements that have been delayed due to the pandemic.
The modification comes as California continues to focus on six factors that will determine when physical distancing and shelter-in-place orders can be modified and relaxed. They include testing capacity, the burden on the state’s health care systems and the capacity to resume the state’s lockdown in the event of another wave of new COVID-19 cases.
Newsom cautioned that bigger changes in the current lockdown rules aren’t imminent.
