Primary Children’s Hospital halts non-emergency procedures

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Primary Children’s Hospital is putting non-emergency surgeries and medical procedures on hold, due in part to an influx of COVID-19 patients, administrators said Thursday.

The Salt Lake City hospital is seeing an “unprecedented” volume of patients exceeding typical winter surge levels, hospital administrator Dustin Lipson told KUTV.

Typically, the hospital treats about 180 patients this time of year, rising to 230 when respiratory illnesses typically surge among kids. But on Wednesday, they were treating 249 patients, Lipson said. That includes kids with COVID-19 other respiratory illnesses and trauma-related injuries.

“To be clear, patients who urgently need surgeries and procedures will receive them,” he said. But staffers are calling families to reschedule procedures that aren’t emergencies.

The delay was expected to last through Nov. 28.