AdventHealth downgrades to 'yellow status' as hospitalizations decline statewide

AdventHealth downgrades to yellow status as hospitalizations decline statewide

Those impacted by the status change will be contacted by their physician’s office to schedule their procedure, AdventHealth said.

ORLANDO, Fla. - AdventHealth says its Central Florida hospitals are downgrading to ‘yellow status’ as COVID-19 hospitalizations continue to decline statewide.

The healthcare group says that they have about 1,200 COVID-19 patients in its Central Florida hospitals. That is down from about 1,700 at its peak a few weeks ago.

‘Yellow status’ means that previous surgical procedures that were deferred under ‘red status’ can move forward.

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However, under this new status, AdventHealth says that:

New surgical procedures are reduced to maximize efficiency
New elective surgeries that require inpatient admissions will be deferred
All scheduled elective surgeries that will utilize an ICU bed must be approved by the campus chief medical officer
Outpatient surgery sites and pediatric surgeries continue as normal

"We are grateful to the community for their support and patience. We know there are people who have been waiting patiently for certain procedures, and we want to be able to care for them as soon as possible," said Dr. Neil Finkler, Chief Clinical Officer of AdventHealth’s Central Florida Division. "Our teams have been working very hard to get us into position to be able to extend care to more of our community. The situation continues to improve in our hospitals, but we still have a ways to go before we’ll feel comfortable enough to return to normal operations."

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Those impacted by the status change will be contacted by their physician’s office to schedule their procedure, AdventHealth said.

The number of patients in Florida hospitals and the number with COVID-19 dipped again Wednesday, as the state continues grappling with the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services posted data showing that 82.67 percent of Florida inpatient beds were occupied, down from 87.17 percent on Tuesday. In all, that translated to 46,496 patients at 241 hospitals.

Meanwhile, the data showed that 13,452 beds at 235 hospitals were being used for patients with COVID-19. That was down from 13,628 patients at 229 hospitals reported Tuesday and 15,177 patients on Sept. 1.

Watch FOX 35 Orlando for the latest Central Florida news.