CLEVELAND — Due to the increased number of COVID-19 patients in Cleveland Clinic's Ohio hospitals, the hospital system is scheduling fewer elective surgeries at some of its locations.
Cleveland Clinic said that it is currently experiencing the highest volume of patients with COVID-19 since the summer of 2020 with 490 patients with COVID-19 in its hospitals and 150 of those patients in its ICUs.
In comparison, Cleveland Clinic said it had about 170 patients with COVID-19 in its hospitals on Aug. 16 with 60 of those patients in ICUs.
The Ohio Department of Health reported 214 new COVID-19 hospitalizations in the state over the past 24 hours with 24 new ICU admissions in that time.
Last week, the Ohio Hospital Association said about 40% of Ohio hospitals were reporting staffing shortages. Data from the OHA showed hospitalizations are on the rise again with 3,234 people hospitalized as of last week—up from a low of 200 earlier this summer.
RELATED: Ohio Hospital Association concerned about rising COVID hospitalizations
With numbers on the rise, Cleveland Clinic said some of its hospital locations, including Cleveland Clinic Akron General and Cleveland Clinic Mercy Hospital, are scheduling "slightly fewer" elective surgeries that require inpatient stay.
Essential and urgent inpatient surgeries such as heart, cancer, pediatrics, transplantation and neurological cases will continue to be scheduled, a Cleveland Clinic representative said.
Reducing the number of elective surgeries at some locations is a temporary measure to address staffing challenges and to open beds for other patients, the representative said.
"Our hospitals are closely monitoring capacity and working together as a system to ensure that all patients are receiving the care they need," Cleveland Clinic officials said in a statement.
The hospital system also added that the majority of the patients hospitalized with COVID-19 across its locations are unvaccinated and encouraged those who haven't and can do so to receive their vaccine to protect themselves and others.
Download the News 5 Cleveland app now for more stories from us, plus alerts on major news, the latest weather forecast, traffic information and much more. Download now on your Apple device here, and your Android device here.
You can also catch News 5 Cleveland on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, YouTube TV, DIRECTV NOW, Hulu Live and more. We're also on Amazon Alexa devices. Learn more about our streaming options here.
