FILE PHOTO: An auxiliary tent stands outside the entrance to the emergency department at EvergreenHealth Medical Center, where an emergency department doctor is reportedly in critical condition with coronavirus (COVID-19) according to local media, in Kirkland, Washington, U.S., March 15, 2020. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
(Reuters) - U.S. hospitals, anticipating a need for beds as more people are diagnosed with coronavirus, are postponing elective surgeries, while some patients, leery of going to a hospital, are cancelling appointments themselves. Several hospitals in the hard-hit Seattle area, including EvergreenHealth, have suspended elective procedures like knee replacements for the next 30 days. Emergency surgeries like appendectomies or a broken wrist that needs surgery will continue.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio on Sunday said he would sign an executive order to postpone all elective surgeries at New York City hospitals so doctors and nurses can focus on treating patients infected with the virus.
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