PORTLAND, Maine (AP) The parent company of Maine Medical Center is postponing some elective surgical procedures because of the surge in COVID-19 cases.
Maine Medical Center reduced surgeries by 30% last week, and all hospitals in the MaineHealth network are reducing surgeries that require a hospital admission after surgery, said Dr. Joan Boomsma, chief medical officer.
Maine is hard-hit by the delta variant of the coronavirus.
The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Maine has risen over the past two weeks from 161 new cases a day on Aug. 23 to 316 new cases a day on Monday.
Boomsma told the Portland Press Herald the tightening hospital capacity for non-COVID patients is similar to what Maine Med experienced at the previous peak of the pandemic in mid-January.
MaineHealth is the parent company of eight hospitals including Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockport, Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington and Mid Coast Hospital in Brunswick.
