In a modest move to relax statewide shelter-in-place orders, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday that hospitals can resume scheduling essential surgeries.
He defined essential surgeries as scheduled surgeries that are needed for serious health problems, like heart valve repairs.
"These are not surgeries that are cosmetic," Newsom said. "These are important medical procedures that, if not attended to, become crises, and ultimately burden the rest of the healthcare system."
The governor said his decision was based upon an assessment of the ability of the hospital and health systems to handle surges.
"California has been hard at work to build up sufficient surge capacity to handle an increase in hospitalizations. Because of this progress, we are encouraging hospitals and health care systems to begin to reintroduce medical care delayed due to #COVID19," Newsom's office tweeted.
The governor also said he has directed the Santa Clara county coroner's office to review autopsy records as far back as December to determine whether there were earlier deaths related to COVID-19. This comes on the heels of a report Tuesday that the first known coronavirus deaths in the U.S. occurred as early as Feb. 6 in Santa Clara County, several weeks earlier than first thought.
— Monica Lam (@monicazlam)