Major Hawaii hospitals resume elective surgeries

Major Hawaii hospitals have begun resuming elective surgeries and procedures amid a decline in COVID-19 hospitalizations and a stabilization of the state’s oxygen supply, a sign that the state has avoided some of the worst-case health care scenarios that were feared as coronavirus cases began to soar in early July.

The Queen’s Health Systems has resumed nonemergency procedures, according to Sean Ibara, a spokesman for the system that includes The Queen’s Medical Center in downtown Honolulu and The Queen’s Medical Center-West Oahu, among other facilities. Queen’s began canceling most of its elective procedures in mid-August as beds began to fill with COVID-­19 patients, straining its intensive care units and staff resources.

Kaiser Permanente Hawaii also has resumed nonurgent surgeries and procedures this week at Moanalua Medical Center after postponing them for several weeks due to the COVID-19 surge, according to the health care system. It’s not clear whether Kaiser Permanente on Maui has also resumed elective procedures and surgeries. Kaiser had begun postponing those, as well as some specialty and primary care appointments, on Aug. 30.

Hawaii Pacific Health also resumed elective procedures at its facilities Sept. 7 after postponing them for about a week due to concerns about the state’s oxygen supply.

State and health care officials last month had to scramble to find an extra source of medical oxygen after demand threatened to outstrip the available supply. The state was able to ship in ISO tanks from the mainland, but in the meantime hospitals began implementing conservation measures and the state’s two liquid oxygen plants switched to producing medical gas only.

“Our oxygen supplies at our hospitals are good at this time,” said Kristen Bonilla, a spokeswoman for Hawaii Pacific Health, by email.

The state Department of Health reported 280 new coronavirus infections Tuesday, a sign that case counts are continuing to decline. The case positivity rate for the past week stands at 5.6%. The state’s COVID-19 hospitalization numbers are also on a downward trend and stood at 284 Tuesday, falling from a high of about 470 just two weeks ago.

The number of severely ill COVID-19 patients also has declined. There were 77 COVID-19 patients in ICU beds as of Tuesday, according to state data, out of 285 ICU beds in use. The state’s ICU capacity is 339 beds. There also has been a decline in the number of patients on ventilators. Earlier this month there were 90 COVID-19 patients on ventilators, an all-time high since the start of the pandemic. That number has fallen over the past couple of weeks to 59 as of Tuesday.

Less than a month ago, the state’s health care leaders warned that the state was entering a dire situation as coronavirus cases soared to levels never seen before in Hawaii. The highly contagious delta variant ripped through the state’s unvaccinated population, sending hospitals into crisis mode. Some hospitals continue to struggle. Hilo Medical Center continues to operate beyond its intensive care capacity, the hospital warned Tuesday.

But overall, the state appears to be emerging from the immediate crisis.

“So many challenges were coming, we were pressed hard,” Lt. Gov. Josh Green told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s “Spotlight Hawaii” livestream program Monday. “But people took it onto themselves. We did not gather for two weeks. We were careful over Labor Day, which I’m so appreciative of to everybody. A lot more people are getting vaccinated, and so we’ve seen our numbers drop.”