The shutdown of elective surgeries and other nonessential medical care during the pandemic has left the nation’s 5,200 hospitals, particularly in places where there have been relatively few infections, with idle clinics and vacant operating rooms , according to an article on The New York Times website.
As restrictions ease around the country, some states have begun allowing procedures unrelated to the coronavirus, like knee replacements, colonoscopies and mammogram screenings.
Reopening is likely to be a painstaking process as states and local governments take different approaches and hospitals grapple with how to keep patients and workers safe, the article said.
Hospitals are also trying to reconfigure spaces, isolating infected patients and those suspected of being infected in distinct units, and ensuring patients have enough physical distance from others.
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