Ricketts Will End Ban on Elective Surgeries; Allow More Testing

Governor Pete Ricketts says some Nebraska hospitals will soon be able to resume elective surgeries and doctors will be able to order more COVID-19 tests.

Ricketts said the ban on elective surgeries would be lifted May 4, so long as hospitals have 30 percent of their beds, intensive care beds, and ventilators still available, and a two-week supply of personal protective equipment. He said new data on hospital capacity made the decision possible. He said that just because a surgery is elective doesn’t mean it’s unnecessary. And he said there’s an economic reason as well.

“These are necessary surgeries that have been delayed through our directive health measure here in the month of April. And we want to open these back up to be able to allow those folks who need to have those surgeries to be able to start scheduling those, and start having those surgeries performed,” Ricketts said.

“It’s also an important source of revenue for many hospitals, so in order to help sustain our hospitals and make sure they’re available to help take care of coronavirus patients, we want them to be able to have a revenue source to be able to stay in business,” he added.

Ricketts also announced dentists, eye doctors and veterinarians would be able to resume seeing patients as well on May 4th. And he said restrictions on COVID-19 testing would be loosened.

“Prior, it had been those high priority people around health care workers and first responders, EMT, police, so forth, as well as people at high-risk conditions. This will basically allow health care providers, if somebody comes in with the symptoms, and the doctor wants to make the call that that person should get tested, or if they’ve been exposed to somebody who has been diagnosed with coronavirus and they’re symptomatic, to be able to get that person in line to be able to get a test,” he said.

And Dr. Gary Anthone, the state’s chief medical officer, used the occasion of the unofficial 4-20 pot smoking holiday to warn smoking increases the danger of complications from COVID-19. Anthone cited a study from the New England Journal of Medicine.

“People who smoke and get COVID-19 are two and a half times more likely to have severe symptoms compared to people who do not smoke. And it could be any type of smoking: cigarettes, marijuana, or vaping,” Anthone said.