While the number of COVID-19 cases across Interior Health remains low at just 160, health officials aren’t prepared just yet to resume elective surgeries that were postponed to make room in hospitals for a potential surge in cases.
During a virtual town hall on Thursday night, Interior Health CEO Susan Brown said it was because the number of COVID-19 cases in B.C. could still spike, as witnessed by an increase in 95 cases on Saturday – the most in a single day announced by B.C. health officials up to this point.
“The reason why we are not proceeding forward now is should be have a surge in patients who do become positive, we need that capacity within the system to be able to care for them safely in hospital,” she said.
More detailed information on the Interior’s cases was available as of Friday, April 24, which showed eight people currently in hospital in the Interior and three in critical care. In total, at least 102 people are considered to have recovered across the Interior.
Browns remarks are similar to what Health Minister Adrian Dix said on numerous occasions while the province cleared space in hospitals to prevent the healthcare system from being overrun as witnessed in places like Italy, Spain, and New York state.
“We’re sitting right now around 70 per cent occupancy within our [hospital] sites across Interior Health. Keeping that capacity right now to make sure that curve stays flattened and plateaued is key,” Brown added.
Brown notes that while they’re not ready to resume surgeries, there are lots of discussions around the best way to do just that once things subside.
“Discussions going on around how one might ease back into surgery in a very phased approach so that we do not end up having that curve swing up again,” she said
As of April 4, nearly 3,000 elective surgeries across Interior Health were postponed according to data from health officials. However, emergency surgeries and some urgent elective surgeries – especially those that are cancer related – are still going ahead in B.C. hospitals.
And Minister Dix previously say that the province will work with private clinics to ensure the backlog in surgeries is cleared once the pandemic passes.
