All 22 hospitals on Long Island can resume elective surgeries now that Nassau County healthcare facilities got approval to do so three days after Suffolk County got the OK, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday.
Elective surgeries and ambulatory care will be allowed to continue now that the number of coronavirus patients being hospitalized amid the pandemic are no longer overwhelming the local healthcare system.
“Anybody who needs surgery or ambulatory care should get it,” the governor told reporters Tuesday during his daily coronavirus news briefing. “Denial is not a life strategy. If you have an issue, get it tested, get it resolved.”
Elective surgeries were canceled across New York State in March in order to make enough hospital bed space for COVID-19 patients ahead of the virus’ peak. But local hospitals are now ready to get back to caring for non-COVID-19 patients.
“I want to make sure that we continue to care for the health and safety of all of our residents,” Nassau County Executive Laura Curran said. “We’ve been seeing people putting off a lot of crucial, critical care, not having to do with coronavirus at all.”
Officials are concerned about the effect of people putting off such procedures.
“The last thing we want to see is someone dying of cancer down the road because they weren’t able to get a routine screening,” Curran said. “The long-term health of so many people who rely on these procedures — colonoscopies, mamograms, biopsies, and skin checks, just to name a few — are so incredibly important.”
Related Story: Elective Surgeries To Resume in Suffolk
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