Oregon medical facilities can resume elective procedures May 1

By Jazmine Weaver

(MAY 1, 2020) Governor Kate Brown made an important announcement last week: On May 1, elective, or non-essential, surgeries will be allowed again. This is significant considering the number of elective surgeries that could not happen over the past several weeks. Elective surgeries are surgeries that people want but may not need.

Elective surgeries are a large source of income for many hospitals. Without them, some hospitals and clinics had to lay off (stop employment for) many health care workers. Health care workers have seen a significant increase in unemployment since the start of this pandemic. For example, Oregon Health and Sciences University (OHSU) had to cut salaries; the hospital predicts that it will lose $1 billion over the next year due to COVID-19, which is the disease caused by the coronavirus.

Many medical facilities will open again on May 1, but there will still be rules to reduce the number of people exposed to COVID 19. Hospitals must keep at least 20% of their beds open. Large hospitals have to keep a 30-day supply of personal protective gear (such as masks), and smaller hospitals will have to keep a 14-day supply of personal protective gear. All facilities will have to be able to complete COVID-19 testing within 2-4 days.

Governor Brown is using this process as a test for reopening the state. She is not making any promises on what will come next. She is still concerned about the number of tests that Oregon has. As of April 30, there have been 2,446 confirmed cases and 101 deaths from COVID-19 in Oregon. The numbers continue to change every day.