Advocate Aurora Health temporarily closed three urgent care facilities Dec. 29 in the Milwaukee area because of staffing shortages, TMJ4 reported.

Bristow (Okla.) Medical Center will temporarily halt services as Sherman, Texas-based Carrus Health takes over owner management of the facility, KRMG reported Dec. 29.

COVID-19 hospitalizations — which are less sensitive to holiday-related data lags than positivity rates, case counts or deaths — are up in more than half the United States and doubled over the past two weeks in three states and Washington, D.C.

Ohio reported 5,356 COVID-19 hospitalizations Dec. 29, surpassing the previous hospitalizations record of 5,308 on Dec. 15, 2020, Gov. Mike DeWine said in a press release.

The U.S. National Institutes of Health is postponing elective surgeries at its hospital in Bethesda, Md., as dozens of staff must isolate or quarantine, Reuters reported Dec. 29.

University of Chicago at Ingalls-Flossmoor (Ill.) temporarily closed its urgent aid location Dec. 29 because of the COVID-19 surge.

Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Spectrum Health received approval from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to temporarily add 54 inpatient beds at Helen DeVos Children's Hospital in case the COVID-19 surge worsens, MiBiz reported Dec. 28.

Cleveland Clinic revised its timeline for the resumption of nonurgent procedures to mid-January. 

Tomah (Wis.) Health is suspending urgent care starting Jan. 1 as it deals with high patient volume from COVID-19 and other illnesses.

Several hospitals across Maryland have activated crisis standards of care as COVID-19 hospitalizations spike. 

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan confirmed the state surpassed 1,500 COVID-19 hospitalizations Dec. 23, triggering hospitals within the state to enact pandemic plans as mandated by the health department. 

TidalHealth is temporarily suspending nonemergency surgeries that would require an overnight stay at Salisbury, Md.-based TidalHealth Peninsula Regional and Seaford, Del.-based TidalHealth Nanticoke starting Dec. 27.

Eleven people, including eight employees of Worcester, Mass.-based UMass Memorial Health, were injured in a crash Dec. 22 involving a shuttle and car, the health system confirmed to Becker's.

Beginning in mid-January, maternity services will no longer be available at Pulaski Memorial Hospital in Winamac, Ind., local news station WKVI reported Dec. 22. 

The West Virginia Hospital Association is urging the public to take preventive measures to ease strain on the state's healthcare system and ensure critical care services are not disrupted ahead of an anticipated surge in COVID-19 cases. 

As of Dec. 17, New York's list of hospitals ordered to halt nonurgent procedures due to limited capacity included 28 facilities, according to the state health department.

As U.S. COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations tick up, some hospitals and health systems have again postponed nonemergency procedures to free up hospital space and ensure they can adequately care for urgent healthcare needs. 

Columbus-based Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center will postpone nonemergent surgeries that require overnight stays beginning Jan. 3, The Columbus Dispatch reported.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan confirmed the state surpassed 1,200 COVID-19 hospitalizations Dec. 17, triggering a series of new actions for hospitals that include limiting nonurgent surgeries requiring overnight stays.

Cleveland Clinic is extending the delay of nonessential surgeries requiring hospital beds through Dec. 31 as COVID-19 hospitalizations rise, effective Dec. 20, the system said Dec. 17.