Sanford Health, a 46-hospital system based in Sioux Falls, S.D., will begin rescheduling elective procedures due to a spike in hospitalizations, according to The Sioux Falls Argus Leader.
The organization will temporarily reschedule nonemergency inpatient surgeries that require an overnight hospital stay.
Sanford Health said the plan to reschedule some elective services is not specifically due to an influx of COVID-19 patients, but rather a high number of hospitalized patients overall.
"This is a standard part of our surge plan to ensure we can maintain staffing and bed capacity for the patients who need it. We continue to closely monitor the situation and have flexibility to make changes based on fluctuating patient volumes. Our focus remains on providing exceptional care to the communities we serve," Andy Munce, Sanford vice president of operations, said in a prepared statement.
On Nov. 3, the South Dakota Department of Health reported 13,367 positive cases of COVID-19 and 480 patients hospitalized due to the coronavirus. The hospitalization rate was an increase of 78 more patients than Nov. 2.
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