UPDATED 11/6/20: Effective 11/9/20, Maury Regional Medical Center will resume most elective procedures requiring an overnight stay.
COLUMBIA, Tenn. — This week, Maury Regional Medical Center (MRMC) in Columbia set a record with 50 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 and has announced that it will temporarily suspend elective procedures requiring an overnight stay, beginning October 26.
“During the past few days, our region has experienced an increase in COVID-19 cases. We have consistently seen COVID-19 numbers spike following holidays and the latest climb follows recent fall breaks in our region,” said Maury Regional Health CEO Alan Watson.
According to Watson, MRMC is currently treating 50 COVID-19 inpatients, 20 of whom are in the medical center’s 26-bed intensive care unit (ICU). Yesterday, statewide hospitalizations reached a new record at 1,300 and ICU bed availability was at 11%. Nationwide, more than 41,000 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, a 40 percent increase in the past month.
In light of the increases in COVID-19 cases, the medical center has made the decision to suspend elective surgical procedures that require an overnight stay for a period of two weeks, effective Monday, October 26. At the close of this two-week period, medical center leadership will re-evaluate based on hospital utilization and staffing.
“The time has long passed for our community to take this virus seriously. We are seeing the impact of our community letting down their guard and we must make every effort to mitigate the spread of this virus so that it does not further tax health care providers across Middle Tennessee and the entire state. We implore all Tennesseans to protect yourself and others by masking, social distancing and hand washing,” said Watson.